Talk:enough

Determiner: What?
Okay. The 'determiner' is typically not considered a true part of speech (noun, preposition, conjunction, etc.) by most grammarians. Rather than determiner, we should classify the word as an adjective. Having reaffirmed this with several dictionaries, I think this is correct. I shall, however, await feedback before changing it. Elfred 03:05, 19 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Please see: This discussion and the one that follows it. - 03:10, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Gender Bias
The example Are you man enough to fight me? should be revisited on grounds of gender bias. 74.71.62.46 04:31, 18 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Not really: that would be revisionism. The sentence is typical of how the language is/has been used. Equinox ◑ 14:04, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

have had enough
I think "I've had enough" is idiomatic, it doesn't mean "I have had a sufficient quantity". Siuenti (talk) 23:52, 8 March 2017 (UTC)

take long enough
When referring to time, what's the meaning of "you took long enough"? --Backinstadiums (talk) 00:34, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

as much as is bearable
ADJECTIVE 2. : as much or as many as can be tolerated in enough trouble already Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:07, 11 March 2020 (UTC)

Sufficiently vs tolerably
1. sufficiently: Is the fish cooked enough? 2. Very: We were glad enough to leave. 3. Tolerably; rather: She sang well enough, but the show was a failure. https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=enough --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:30, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Polarity of adverb "very"?
2. (not used with a negative) very or quite; rather: she was pleased enough to see me 3. (intensifier): oddly/surprisingly enough https://www.wordreference.com/definition/enough --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:38, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

enough said
​used to say that you understand a situation and there is no need to say any more: ‘He's a politician, remember.’ ‘Enough said.’ --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:15, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

Noun
For the OED, it's not a pronoun but a noun. --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:21, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

A slight augmentation of the positive degree: aptly/oddly enough.
B2. In vaguer sense (qualifying an adj. or adv.). a). Fully, quite, abundantly, as much as well could be. Now only in certain customary (chiefly colloq.) phrases, as sure enough, you know well enough, etc. Also in weaker sense, implying ‘a slight augmentation of the positive degree’, as in aptly/oddly enough. https://oed.com/oed2/00075747

What does "slight augmentation of the positive degree" refer to? --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:34, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

I was fool enough to believe him
Is fool here uncountable? --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:11, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Are you man enough to fight? --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:36, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

Subject of a negative sentence
Don't use enough (and a noun) as the subject of a negative sentence *‘Enough people didn’t come', you say ‘Not enough did’. --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:39, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

Usage note
Unlike other adverbs of degree, enough can only modify adverbs and adjectives. Isn't the above statement contradicting the usage note? --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:44, 13 October 2021 (UTC)

RFD discussion: November 2021–January 2022
RFD for adjective sense: sufficient. DTLHS (talk) 17:24, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Just noting that OED does have an adjective sense but labels it "determiner". — SGconlaw (talk) 19:08, 10 November 2021 (UTC)


 * 1) Perhaps it is more ,
 * 2) but it is not much.
 * 3) Nevertheless, it is enough.
 * I think all three underlined terms are the same PoS. --Lambiam 21:33, 10 November 2021 (UTC)
 * It also seems plausible to me that "it is sufficient " is the same PoS as "it is enough ", so if "enough" is deemed a determiner in such cases then should "sufficient" also be a determiner? (There is a determiner section at "sufficient" but only for one very special case, and the determiner definition would fit some adjectival examples too, so they are not well distinguished.) My feeling is that neither "enough" nor "sufficient" really describes a property of something in the way that an adjective should, but it is murky. By the way, one of the present examples for the adj sense is "The change in the women's hand would be enough". I have no idea what this refers to and I am tempted to delete it anyway. Anyone understand it? Mihia (talk) 18:44, 12 November 2021 (UTC)
 * As to the last, the women's hand is strange – a single hand collectively owned by a plurality of women? Replacing women by woman, the meaning could be: “The [value of] the coins in the the woman's hand would be enough to pay for [whatever].” A usage example for which one can only guess at its meaning is worse than useless. --Lambiam 23:48, 12 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes of course you must be correct: "change" must mean "small coins". I have no idea why I didn't think of that, though "women's hand" must be wrong, and probably an error for "woman's hand", I would imagine. Mihia (talk) 00:33, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * In fact, thinking about it some more, I would say that "a sufficient reason" is adjectival ("What kind of reason?" "A sufficient one"), while "this reason is sufficient" can be interpreted either as adjectival or (probably more commonly) non-adjectival. I think that this contrast can guide us towards understanding whether "enough" can ever be adjectival. Mihia (talk) 22:43, 12 November 2021 (UTC)
 * The complement of copula verbs such as to be can be non-adjectival: Spring is in the air . The verb to get has many meanings, including a copulative one, synonymous with to become. I have the impression that the complement of copulative to get can only be adjectival: when the going gets tough . In smoke got in my eyes  and he can never get enough , the sense is not copulative. Now compare:
 * (a) If you wait another day or two, it will become red.
 * (b) If you wait another day or two, it will become enough.
 * (c) If you wait another day or two, it will get red.
 * (d) *If you wait another day or two, it will get enough.
 * To me, (d), although understandable, feels not fully acceptable. (Same if get is replaced by turn.) This suggests (to me) that enough is in another syntax category than red. --Lambiam 00:12, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Right, I don't see that "enough" can be a true adjective, so Delete unless anyone can make a convincing case why it is. Noting also the issue of whether we list should list a pronoun sense separately as we do with various other determiners ("enough is enough"), and that the existing "determiner" sense at "sufficient" does in fact have a (pro)noun-like definition and usage example. Mihia (talk) 09:36, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * The adjective sense should probably go but what part of speech do we think ‘enough’ comes under in the sentence ‘Enough is enough’? I’m tempted to say that both appearances of the word are determiners and the idea that ‘enough’ can be a pronoun is a bit sus (and ‘interjection’ always feels like a bit of a cop-out classification). Overlordnat1 (talk) 12:44, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * IMO the first "enough" of "enough is enough" is (pro)noun-like, while the second is murky. The second could also be pronoun-like if the implied meaning is "enough of something is enough of something". Another plainer pronoun-like example could be "Enough has been provided". The same issue applies to many determiners/quantifiers, which can be used standalone in a noun-like way with a more-or-less implied object, and often we list these separately, as at e.g. some, any, many. E.g. the relevant definition at many is "An indefinite large number of people or things", while the corresponding definition at enough would be e.g. "A sufficient quantity of something". Another option would be an "as pronoun" or "with implied object" case/examples under a "determiner" heading, I suppose. Mihia (talk) 13:23, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * On second thoughts, I can see why it might be a pronoun, just not a personal or possessive one, also the similarity to “Two is enough” would make it noun-like (though it is seems to claim on Wikipedia that numbers can be classed as determiners too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determiner#Quantifiers). Overlordnat1 (talk) 14:16, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Isn’t “enough is enough” an instance of the snowclone X is X, like “no is no”, “basta is basta”, and “stop is stop”&thinsp;? The X of the snowclone can be basically anything, even an interjection. --Lambiam 19:04, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Perhaps "enough is enough", which tries to illustrate two issues in one phrase, is not the greatest example then. But anyway, as a general principle, while "enough" as verb subject, e.g. in "enough was delivered", seems to fall into the standard category of "pronoun-like determiner with implied object", its PoS as complement of the "be" verb, e.g. in "this is enough", is less clear to me. It's not an adjective (we think). Can it be a determiner, and we just allow that determiners can be complements of the "be" verb? Or is it always again pronoun-like, implying "enough something"? Mihia (talk) 20:18, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Delete. The usex "It's enough to feed the whole family!" seems to use the pronoun. Anyway, it's not comparable, nor is the determiner, although you can say "more than enough" both on its own or as a determiner - "more than enough idiots in this world". DonnanZ (talk) 10:39, 28 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Delete, redundant to the determiner and pronoun sections. Note that in German, to use it as an attributive adjective, one classically used . Fay Freak (talk) 04:56, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

RFD-deleted. --Fytcha (talk) 14:55, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

Old-fashioned
You removed "old-fashioned", but I agree with the prior claim that "there is food enough for us all" is old-fashioned. Today we say "there is enough food for us all". Equinox ◑ 14:10, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I changed it around a bit more, and also removed the "man enough" example from the adverb section. I actually would prefer to list it there, since it makes more sense to group like senses together even across parts of speech, but so far as I know, we cannot call something an adverb if it modifies a noun. — Soap — 15:48, 15 February 2024 (UTC)