enough

[ih-nuhf] /ɪˈnʌf/

adjective

adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire:

enough water; noise enough to wake the dead.

pronoun

an adequate quantity or number; sufficiency.

adverb

in a quantity or degree that answers a purpose or satisfies a need or desire; sufficiently.

fully or quite:

ready enough.

interjection

(used to express impatience or exasperation):

Enough! I heard you the first time.

Origin

before 900; Middle English enogh, Old English genōh; cognate with German genug, Gothic ganohs, Old Norse nōgr; akin to Old English geneah it suffices, Sanskrit naśati (he) reaches

Synonyms

1. ample. 3. adequately, amply, reasonably.

Examples from the web for enough

Remarkably enough, nobody's doing a thing about it.
Despite those imperfections, her performance was good enough to win.
The gypsy moth problem began innocently enough.
There's simply not enough time.
Worried or not, rich or poor, most people haven't done enough about retirement.
Apply enough water to wet the entire root zone and to encourage deep rooting.
Good enough to eat right off the plant when picked at peak ripeness.
There is only one appliance, a high-quality grill large enough to handle several cooking tasks at once.
It was expensive to maintain and took up too much of the yard, she says, not allowing enough space for gardening.
They're tall enough to have some presence and stems long enough to cut, but they're still compact enough not to need staking.

British Dictionary definitions for enough

enough

/ɪˈnʌf/

determiner

sufficient to answer a need, demand, supposition, or requirement; adequate: enough cake
(as pronoun): enough is now known

that's enough!, that will do: used to put an end to an action, speech, performance, etc

adverb

so as to be adequate or sufficient; as much as necessary: you have worked hard enough

(not used with a negative) very or quite; rather: she was pleased enough to see me

(intensifier): oddly enough, surprisingly enough

just adequately; tolerably: he did it well enough

Word Origin

Old English genōh; related to Old Norse gnōgr, Gothic ganōhs, Old High German ginuog

Word Origin and History for enough

adj.

c.1300, from Old English genog, a common Germanic formation (cf. Old Saxon ginog, Old Frisian enoch, Dutch genoeg, Old High German ginuog, German genug, Old Norse gnogr, Gothic ganohs).

This is a compound of ge- "with, together" (also a participial, collective, intensive, or perfective prefix) + root -nah, from PIE *nek- "reach, attain" (cf. Sanskrit asnoti "reaches," Hittite ninikzi "lifts, raises," Lithuanian nešti "to bear, carry," Latin nancisci "to obtain").

It is the most prominent among the surviving examples of Old English ge-, the equivalent of Latin com- and Modern German ge-, from PIE *kom- "beside, near, by, with" (see com-).

Meaning "moderately, fairly, tolerably" (good enough) was in Middle English. Understated sense of have had enough "have had too much" was in Old English (which relied heavily on double negatives and understatement). Colloquial 'nough said is attested from 1839.

Idioms and Phrases with enough

enough

also see: