adequacy
/ˈædɪkwəsi/noun
adequacy is spelled A-D-E-Q-U-A-C-Y: 8 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,912th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, adequacy means “The quality of being sufficient, adequate or able to meet the needs” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of adequacy is adequacies.
How many letters and syllables are in adequacy?
| Letters | 8: A-D-E-Q-U-A-C-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 34,912th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is adequacy?
Adequacy appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,912th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce adequacy?
- /ˈædɪkwəsi/
- /ˈædəkwəsi/
Adequacy has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-adequacy.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of adequacy
- adequacies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does adequacy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The quality of being sufficient, adequate or able to meet the needs.
His zeal is, of course, unquestionable; his adequacy, however, I doubt.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Adequacy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense sufficiency:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Brauchbarkeit, Angemessenheit, Eignung |
| Portuguese | adequação |
| Spanish | cantidad suficiente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does adequacy come from?
From adequ(ate) + -acy.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).