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as much or as good as necessary for some requirement or purpose; fully sufficient, suitable, or fit (often followed by to or for):
this car is adequate to our needs. adequate food for fifty people.
barely sufficient or suitable:
being adequate is not good enough.
law. reasonably sufficient for starting legal action:
adequate grounds.
contemporary examples

they were tribal horse soldiers, not prison guards, and they failed to adequately search the prisoners.
the first american: excerpt from henry crumpton’s ‘the art of intelligence’ henry a. crumpton may 13, 2012

each of the children will be adequately employed through the various ent-ties of his media, publishing and insurance companies.
juicy new details on berlusconi’s divorce deal barbie latza nadeau may 11, 2010

some critics believe that the problem is a result of the military not adequately enforcing its own regulations.
caught between military and civilian justice, a battered wife waits and waits for help jacob siegel april 20, 2014

regrettably, not many of them have been adequately translated.
how clausewitz invented modern war james a. warren november 23, 2014

american universities have come under censure for failing to adequately protect students from s-xual and physical -ssault.
don’t blame the nfl and colleges for mishandling -ssault cases emily shire september 18, 2014

historical examples

the horror of this is not to be adequately described to those who have never seen the like.
amelia henry fielding

that which we do not believe we cannot adequately say, though we may repeat the words never so often.
essays, first series ralph waldo emerson

the singer or speaker must breathe easily and adequately, but not so as to waste his energies.
voice production in singing and speaking wesley mills

the subject is a great one and cannot be adequately treated as an appendage to another.
timaeus plato

that existing educational machineries may not adequately recognise these is not of course the question here.
civics: as applied sociology patrick geddes

adjective
able to fulfil a need or requirement without being abundant, outstanding, etc
adv.

1620s, from adequate + -ly (2); originally a term in logic in reference to correspondence of ideas and objects. meaning “suitably” is recorded from 1680s.
adj.

1610s, from latin adaequatus “equalized,” past participle of adaequare “to make equal to,” from ad- “to” (see ad-) + aequare “make level,” from aequus (see equal). the sense is of being “equal to what is required.” related: adequateness.