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Full or adequate supply; enough and to spare; sufficiency; specifically, abundant productiveness of the earth; ample supply for human wants; abundance; copiousness. "Plenty of corn and wine." Gen. xxvii. 28. "Promises Britain peace and plenty." Shak. Houses of office stuffed with plentee. Chaucer. The teeming clouds De…

Inadequate; insufficient; insignificant; as, a poor excuse. That I have wronged no man will be a poor plea or apology at the last day. Calamy.

Being potent; endowed with energy adequate to a result; efficacious; influential. [Obs.] "And hath in his effect a voice potential." Shak.

Settlement of a claim, due, or demand; payment; indemnification; adequate compensation. We shall make full satisfaction. Shak.

Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty; as, a short supply of provisions, or of water.

metal upon partially chilled metal; also, the imperfect weld in a forging caused by the inadequate heat of one surface under working.

Small; inadequate; meager; pitiful; as, slender means of support; a slender pittance. Frequent begging makes slender alms. Fuller.

gh, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. Chaucer. To recount almighty works, What words or tongue of seraph can suffice Milton.

The quality or state of being sufficient, or adequate to the end proposed; adequacy. His sufficiency is such that he bestows and possesses, his plenty being unexhausted. Boyle.

Equal to the end proposed; adequate to wants; enough; ample; competent; as, provision sufficient for the family; an army sufficient to defend the country. My grace is sufficient for thee. 2 Cor. xii. 9.

Slight; small; slender; flimsy; wanting substance or depth or force; superficial; inadequate; not sufficient for a covering; as, a thin disguise. My tale is done, for my wit is but thin. Chaucer.

To pay inadequately.

Of inadequate or inferior proportions; small; poor. Scanty and underproportioned returns of civility. Collier.

Inadequately equipped with sails. [Obs.]

To have just and adequate ideas of; to apprehended the meaning or intention of; to have knowledge of; to comprehend; to know; as, to understand a problem in Euclid; to understand a proposition or a declaration; the court understands the advocate or his argument; to understand the sacred oracles; to understand a nod or…

Not adequate or sufficient; inferior; as, the man was unequal to the emergency; the timber was unequal to the sudden strain.

Not speakable; incapable of being uttered or adequately described; inexpressible; unutterable; ineffable; as, unspeakable grief or rage. -- Un*speak"a*bly, adv. Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Pet. i. 8.

or the summary suppression and punishment of crime, as when the processes of law appear inadequate.

Active quality or power; capacity or power adequate to the production of a given effect; energy; strength; potency; efficacy; as, the virtue of a medicine. Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about. Mark v. 30. A man was driven to depend for his security against misundersta…

e's condition, to the occasion, or to a proposed end or use; suitably; abundantly; fully; adequately; thoroughly. Lot . . . beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere. Gen. xiii. 10. WE are wellable to overcome it. Num. xiii. 30. She looketh well to the ways of her household. Prov. xxxi. 27. Se…