Meaning & use
suffice
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Meanings
verbintransitiveformal
To be enough to meet a need or reach a goal, without needing anything more.
Grammar: No object; the subject is what is enough: a short note will suffice.
Patterns
- something will suffice
- something suffices for something
A simple apology should suffice.
Two cups of flour will suffice for this recipe.
A handshake and a smile sufficed to settle the matter.
verbtransitiveformalrare
To provide enough of something for someone, so that they need no more.
Grammar: Rare and formal; takes a person as the object: a meal that sufficed us all.
Patterns
- suffice someone
A small loaf sufficed the hungry travelers.
The little money he had sufficed him for the week.
Their savings sufficed them through the winter.
phrasefixed phraseformal
Used in the fixed expression suffice it to say, to introduce a short statement that makes any longer explanation unnecessary.
Grammar: Always followed by a that-clause, often with that omitted: suffice it to say we lost.
Patterns
- suffice it to say that something
Suffice it to say, the trip did not go well.
Suffice it to say that she was not impressed.
I will not give details; suffice it to say we left early.
Word forms
| third person singular | suffices |
|---|---|
| past tense | sufficed |
| past participle | sufficed |
| -ing form | sufficing |
Common combinations
- suffice it to say
- Suffice it to say, the meeting was tense.
- will suffice
- A short email will suffice.
- barely suffice
- The small budget will barely suffice for the repairs.
- suffice for
- One bag should suffice for a weekend trip.
- hardly suffice
- Words can hardly suffice to describe the view.
Synonyms and how they differ
- be enough
- Be enough is the everyday way to say it, while suffice sounds formal and compact.
- do
- Do is informal and spoken, as in this will do, and it feels casual next to suffice.
- serve
- Serve stresses that something fills a role or purpose, but suffice stresses adequate amount.
- satisfy
- Satisfy means to meet a demand or wish, but it often takes a person as object, unlike suffice.
Opposites
Word family
- sufficient adjective
- enough for a purpose
- sufficiently adverb
- to an adequate degree
- sufficiency noun
- an adequate amount
- insufficient adjective
- not enough
- self-sufficient adjective
- able to meet your own needs without help
Commonly confused: suffice or suffix?
suffice vs suffix
A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of a word, like -ness. It has no link to being enough.
Practice
Which sentence uses suffice correctly?
Choose one answer.
Suffice is an intransitive verb and needs no object or preposition here. Be suffice is wrong because suffice is a verb, not an adjective.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “suffice”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.