Adequation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of making something adequate or sufficient for a purpose ; the state or quality of correspondence between two things, showing conformity
2. The action of adjusting or adapting something to be enough or satisfactory ; the condition where elements match or correspond to each other
3. The act of ensuring adequacy or sufficiency in a context ; the relation of agreement or fittingness between parts or ideas

Etymology: "Adequation" is a learned borrowing from Latin "adaequatio," which is itself built from "ad," meaning "to" or "toward," and "aequatio," a noun from "aequare," "to make equal." Its core sense is therefore something like "making equal to," a bringing of one thing up to the level of another. That literal idea of equalizing sits behind both of the word's modern senses. The first, ensuring that something is sufficient for a purpose, follows naturally from making one quantity match what is required. The second, the relation of agreement or fittingness between parts or ideas, keeps the image of two things being brought into correspondence. The word thus keeps the same mathematical-sounding core of matching one thing to another that its Latin parts carried.

Synonyms: equivalence, sufficiency, adequacy, satisfaction, proportionality

Antonyms: inadequacy, insufficiency, discrepancy, imbalance, deficiency