satisfactory

comparative more satisfactory · superlative most satisfactory

1. Done to satisfaction; adequate or sufficient.

   The satisfactory results of the survey led to his promotion.

   1 more example

   The criterion of mental health is not one of individual adjustment to a given social order, but a universal one, valid for all men, of giving a satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.

   1955, Erich Fromm, The Sane Society, Fawcet

2. Causing satisfaction; agreeable or pleasant; satisfying.

   To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch their renewal of life,—this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do.

   1870, Charles Dudley Warner, “Preliminary”, in My Summer in a Garden, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, page 15

3. lifestyleMaking atonement for a sin; expiatory.

   […] therefore the ſuffering of any other nature could not bee ſo pertinent, nor kindly ſatisfactory.

   1623, John Mayer, The English Catechisme Explained, 3rd edition, London: Aug. Mathewes, page 36

plural satisfactories

1. Somebody or something that meets requirements without exceeding them.

   They seem quite big on more selectivity in breeding and stiffer tests to divide the satisfactories from rejects. They say that even the term 'satisfactories' is wrong because it suggests a level just above mediocrity.

   1978, Robert Thurston, Alicia II, page 143

2. The rating given to somebody or something that meets requirements without exceeding them.

   I've been a good student — mostly distinguisheds and only a few satisfactories […]

   1996, Donna E. Muncey, Patrick J. McQuillan, Reform and Resistance in Schools and Classrooms, page 130