adjective
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adequate or suitable; acceptable
a satisfactory answer
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giving satisfaction
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constituting or involving atonement, recompense, or expiation for sin
Other Word Forms
- presatisfactory adjective
- satisfactorily adverb
- satisfactoriness noun
Etymology
Origin of satisfactory
First recorded in 1520–30; from Medieval Latin satisfactōrius, from Latin satisfac(ere) “to do enough” ( satisfaction ( def. ) ) + -tōrius -tory 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sheriff Fraser concluded the system for checking food was being served to the correct person was not satisfactory.
From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026
If the United States wins the WBC championship Tuesday, when no outcome besides victory would have been satisfactory, the team will explode in celebration.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 17, 2026
The idea is that threats to Iranian unity might compel the regime’s surviving leaders to come to satisfactory terms before the whole country dissolves.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026
And while President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for "restraint" and announced measures to try to address grievances, "the issue for us is the end of the regime, and nothing else is satisfactory", she said.
From Barron's • Jan. 9, 2026
That just as the theories of Ptolemy and Newton seemed perfectly satisfactory for centuries, so too our most cherished theories will one day be supplanted.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
