insufficient

adjective

in·​suf·​fi·​cient ˌin(t)-sə-ˈfi-shənt 

: not sufficient : inadequate

insufficient funds

especially : lacking adequate power, capacity, or competence

insufficient bandwidth

insufficiently adverb

Synonyms

• deficient
• inadequate
• lacking
• low
• scarce
• short
• shy
• wanting

Examples of insufficient in a Sentence

The case was thrown out because of insufficient evidence.

there's been an insufficient number of volunteers for the job, so I'll have to select someone

Recent Examples on the Web

Even so, there are people who insist the Founding Fathers' idea of religious equality is insufficient. —Benedict Cosgrove, Newsweek, 19 Dec. 2024

The Clean Air Act allows states to apply for a waiver from the EPA to set their own emissions standards in cases where the federal regulations are insufficient to prevent deleterious pollution. —Ars Technica, 18 Dec. 2024

What Anthropic’s experiments seem to show is that reinforcement learning is insufficient as a technique for creating reliably safe models, especially as those models get more advanced. —Billy Perrigo, TIME, 18 Dec. 2024

Lawmakers, however, viewed those protections as insufficient, and passed the law requiring its sale anyway. —Caitlin Yilek, CBS News, 17 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin insufficient-, insufficiens, from Latin in- + sufficient-, sufficiens sufficient

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

insufficient

adjective

in·​suf·​fi·​cient ˌin(t)-sə-ˈfish-ənt 

: not sufficient : inadequate

insufficiently adverb