Satisficing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A decision-making strategy that aims for an adequate or acceptable outcome rather than the optimal one
2. A conceptual approach to decision-making that seeks a satisfactory solution that fulfills minimum requirements as opposed to achieving the best possible outcome
3. A method of resolving choices that prioritizes finding an adequately sufficient answer instead of pursuing the most favorable result available

Etymology: Herbert Simon, the Nobel-winning economist and cognitive scientist, coined "satisfice" in the 1950s by blending "satisfy" with "suffice." Simon was studying how people actually make choices, and he argued that real decision-makers rarely have the time, information or mental capacity to find the best possible option. Instead, they stop searching once they find something good enough, which is the behavior the new term named. The word is therefore a deliberate portmanteau rather than something inherited from older English. Its two sources are both ordinary words with roots in Latin: "satisfy" comes through Old French from Latin "satisfacere," meaning "to do enough," while "suffice" comes through Old French from Latin "sufficere," meaning "to be sufficient." Simon's blend keeps both senses: meeting a standard and having enough.

Synonyms: settling, contenting

Antonyms: maximizing