Search the Dictionary

ind from doubt or uncertainty, and enabling it to rest with confidence; sufficient; as, a satisfactory account or explanation.

Causing dissatisfaction; unable to give content; unsatisfactory; displeasing. To have reduced the different qualifications in the different States to one uniform rule, would probably have been as dissatisfactory to some of the States, as difficult for the Convention. A. Hamilton. -- Dis*sat`is*fac"to*ri*ness, n.…

statement in general of reasons, causes, grounds, etc., explanatory of some event; as, no satisfactory account has been given of these phenomena. Hence, the word is often used simply for reason, ground, consideration, motive, etc.; as, on no account, on every account, on all accounts.

To settle or bring to a satisfactory state, so that parties are agreed in the result; as, to adjust accounts; the differences are adjusted.

To make a satisfactory response or return. Hence: To render account, or to be responsible; to be accountable; to make amends; as, the man must answer to his employer for the money intrusted to his care. Let his neck answer for it, if there is any martial law. Shak.

Capable of being answered or refuted; admitting a satisfactory answer. The argument, though subtle, is yet answerable. Johnson.

as, the parties have made an arrangement between themselves concerning their disputes; a satisfactory arrangement.

Of or pertaining to process of using the calorimeter. Satisfactory calorimetric results. Nichol.

Unwelcome; disagreeable; unsatisfactory. "Cold news for me." "Cold comfort." Shak.

wages retained till the end of his engagement, and paid over only if his conduct has been satisfactory.

Unable to satisfy; unsatisfactory; hollow; vain; -- said of pleasure, the world, etc. Pleas'd in the silent shade with empty praise. Pope.

Clear to the vision; especially, clear to the understanding, and satisfactory to the judgment; as, the figure or color of a body is evident to the senses; the guilt of an offender can not always be made evident. Your honor and your goodness is so evident. Shak. And in our faces evident the sings Of foul concupiscence.…

That which explains or makes clear; as, a satisfactory explanation.

closing of a factory or workshop by an employer, usually in order to bring the workmen to satisfactory terms by a suspension of wages.

aving both stamens and pistils; -- said of flower. Perfect cadence (Mus.), a complete and satisfactory close in harmony, as upon the tonic preceded by the dominant. -- Perfect chord (Mus.), a concord or union of sounds which is perfectly coalescent and agreeable to the ear, as the unison, octave, fifth, and fourth; a…

Not finished or complete; inelegant; lacking chasteness or elegance; not in good taste; unsatisfactory in mode of treatment; -- said of literature, language, style, and the like. "The rude Irish books." Spenser. Rude am I in my speech. Shak. Unblemished by my rude translation. Dryden.

trunks. Howell. What schoolboy of us has not rummaged his Greek dictionary in vain for a satisfactory account! M. Arnold.

Satisfactory. [Obs.] Satisfactive discernment of fish. Sir T. Browne.

Hence, ample; full; satisfactory; abundant. [R.] The wealthy witness of my pen. B. Jonson.