Word.ws English Dictionary

insufficient

Syllables: in·suf·fi·cient/ɪnsəˈfɪʃənt/

insufficient determiner: an inadequate quantity of; not enough.

Determiner

insufficient

  1. An inadequate quantity of; not enough.
    • Insufficient time is available to reflect on the problem.
  2. A quantity (of something) that is less than is needed.
    • Insufficient of the building remains to determine its age.

Adjective

insufficient (comparative more insufficient, superlative most insufficient)

  1. Not sufficient; of a type or kind that does not suffice, that does not satisfy requirements or needs.
    • an insufficient amount
    • an insufficient degree
  2. Not sufficient; lacking competent power or ability; unqualified, unequal, unfit.
    • Brother Coſroe, I find my ſelfe agreeu’d,
      Yet inſufficient to expreſſe the ſame:
      For it requires a great and thundering ſpeech: […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
    Synonyms:
    unsufficient

insufficient meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

insufficient in Hindi

insufficient, inadequate
अपर्याप्त aparyāpt, नाकाफ़ी nākāfī

insufficient in Tamil

தேவைக்குக்குறைந்த, பற்றாத, போதாத

insufficient in Urdu

insufficient, inadequate
ناقص nāqis

insufficient in Bengali

অপ্রতুল, অপর্যাপ্ত, কম
More languagesFewer languages
insufficient in Malayalam
പോരാ pōrā
insufficient in Kannada
ಸಾಕಾಗದ, ಸಾಲದಾದ, ಸಾಕಷ್ಟಿಲ್ಲದ, ಕಡಮೆಯಾದ
insufficient in Sanskrit
खिल khila, अपर्याप्त aparyāpta

Examples of insufficient in a sentence

  • At slow taxiing speed, there is insufficient rudder authority to steer the aeroplane.
  • The airspeed was so low that there was insufficient elevator authority to recover from the stall.
  • The government's measures to tackle crime were insufficient.

All 40 example sentences with insufficient

Synonyms of insufficient

Forms of insufficient

comparativemore insufficient
superlativemost insufficient

Origin of insufficient

From Middle French insufficient, from Latin insufficiens. See also in- + sufficient.

Words formed from insufficient

Words that rhyme with insufficient

40 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about insufficient

What does insufficient mean?
Insufficient means an inadequate quantity of; not enough.
What is insufficient in Hindi?
Insufficient in Hindi is अपर्याप्त (aparyāpt), नाकाफ़ी (nākāfī). See Insufficient meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is insufficient?
Insufficient can be a determiner or an adjective.
How do you pronounce insufficient?
Insufficient is pronounced /ɪnsəˈfɪʃənt/.

Words near insufficient in the dictionary

  1. insufficent
  2. insufficiantly
  3. insufficience
  4. insufficiencies
  5. insufficiency
  6. insufficient
  7. insufficiently
  8. insufflate
  9. insufflated
  10. insufflates
  11. insufflating

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: insufficient (page history and authors); अपर्याप्त (Hindi) (page history and authors); insufficient (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ناقص (Urdu) (page history and authors); Insufficient (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പോരാ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); insufficient (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अपर्याप्त (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-insufficient.wav.

Cite this entry: “insufficient.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/insufficient. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.