There are many words that we perceive now as part of our colloquial usage. The meaning of these linguistic "familiar things" is sometimes captured contextually or intuitively. But sometimes this is not enough. Therefore, we will clarify today the meaning of the word “adequate”, since the adjective is a frequent guest in almost any conversation.
Etymology
Word of latin origin. Adaequatus means “equalized” or “equalized”. Despite the fact that the word is etymologically derived from Latin, it seems that Russian people did not adopt it from the original source, but from English. In his famous work, “The Word of the Living and the Dead” (1972), Nora Gal condemns translators who codify and translate using the word “adequately”. It is better, she believes, to replace the definitions of "equivalent" or "equivalent." We’ll talk about this again when it comes to synonyms. For now, let's move on to the immediate meaning of the word "adequate."
Meaning
The Explanatory Dictionary states that the object of study has only one meaning: "It is quite appropriate, coinciding." For example, "The price of a car is adequate to its appearance and technical power."
The word already feels at home in the Russian language, which is why the adjective is in the explanatory dictionary, there is no place for outsiders there.
It must also be said that our hero has colloquial meaning. In ordinary, everyday speech, something is called something that is consistent with the concepts of the norm. When they say, for example, “an adequate person”, it means that the man or woman has no mental deviations, quirks, they have a very tolerable character. In other words, they can be dealt with. When they say that a person is inadequate, then he does not have to be crazy in the clinical sense, but it is definitely difficult to come to an agreement with him.
It cannot be said that the lexical meaning of the word “adequate” is so difficult, the main thing is to look into the dictionary more often, because everything is fixed there.
Synonyms
It is clear that now people prefer to use words that contain a larger number of meanings in order to save time. But sometimes it’s worth considering and looking for a more “native” substitute for a word of foreign origin. So, here is a list of possible replacements:
- normal;
- acceptable;
- equivalent;
- equivalent;
- equivalent;
- consistent;
- appropriate;
- proportionate;
- identical.
As you can see, there is plenty to choose from so as not to repeat the same word indefinitely. If someone has forgotten, then we consider the meaning of the word of foreign origin, “adequate” in the field of our attention today.
“On the positive” and “in adequate” - conversions of the spoken language
The reader, immersed in the modern information stream, must have recognized those phrases that are placed in the subtitle. We cannot ask and beg him not to use them, because sometimes they say it in films and in books, but it would still be better if the consumer of book and cinema production forgot about them forever.
“Adequate” is an even more truncated form of the second meaning of the word we are considering. In fairness, I must say that we have no arguments against, except for the perfect dissonance of the phrase. But if it does not offend the reader’s taste, then he can, of course, leave it in his dictionary.
“On the positive” is a harmless phrase, but containing an ambiguous subtext. They say: "This person is always positive." As if positive is a psychotropic substance. In other words, the constant and usually unreasonable fun causes some suspicion. And in this case, we also recommend abandoning the phrase solely for reasons of harmony.
In any case, of course, all the tips are advisory in nature, in addition, you can not impose your taste on anyone. One way or another, we hope that the reader has grasped the meaning of the word “adequate”, and this question will not cause difficulties anymore.