How to Use inadequate in a Sentence

inadequate

adjective
Definition of inadequatenext
Synonyms for inadequatenext
  • I felt inadequate to the task.
  • These supplies are inadequate to meet our needs.
  • Her brother's success and popularity always made her feel inadequate.
  • We were given very inadequate information.
  • One of the hardest things to feel in life is inadequate.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 8 Feb. 2023
  • But at the moment that is inadequate salve for what has been lost.
    — Bill Oram, oregonlive, 5 Aug. 2023
  • Sometimes, a claim is both false and based on an inadequate set of data.
    — Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY, 4 Mar. 2024
  • Unrestricted cash has a lot of power to be able to fill in places where the safety net is inadequate.
    — Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 25 July 2024
  • First, the law is often highly inadequate, and can at times threaten, in the EFF’s words, to also be a chainsaw when only a scalpel will do.
    — WIRED, 22 Sep. 2023
  • The world will continue to warm, the damage will increase, and the global response will be inadequate.
    — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
  • The narrative of child care in the U.S. is one of scarcity — an inadequate supply of affordable care for the nation’s youngest children.
    — Jenny Gold, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2023
  • My equipment was inadequate and unsafe, and the situation could have gone from bad to worse, very quickly.
    — Wes Siler, Outside Online, 14 Oct. 2024
  • To be sure, the capacity at the border is inadequate to meet the demands of the current situation.
    — Wendy Edelberg and Tara Watson, TIME, 5 Apr. 2024
  • The critics are already calling the code inadequate and see it as proof that the Justices will bend to political pressure.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 13 Nov. 2023
  • If the person doesn’t exercise enough to cause differential blood flow (or the dose of medicine is inadequate), the stress test may come out negative.
    — Dr. Keith Roach, oregonlive, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Framing Ruscha as a history or landscape painter is inadequate to cover the full, thrilling scope of his creative life.
    — Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2023
  • In the 1990s, a group of superintendents, districts and parents sued the state over inadequate funding.
    — Becca Savransky, ProPublica, 6 Sep. 2023
  • Clearly, there is no shame in feeling a little inadequate compared to her.
    — Shannon Carlin, TIME, 19 Apr. 2024
  • Researchers aren’t entirely sure why that happens—but at its core, the problem seems linked to inadequate deep, restorative rest, Schuetz says.
    — Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 10 Oct. 2024
  • In 2018, his conviction was vacated on the ground that his defense had been inadequate.
    — Clare Malone, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2024
  • On their new land, many Choctaw members were living in poverty, with inadequate housing and little access to food.
    — Richard Grant, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Sep. 2023
  • The first conviction was set aside by an Oklahoma court which said his defense was inadequate.
    — Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY, 9 Oct. 2024
  • The Niger River serves as an important transportation route in Mali, where roads are inadequate.
    — Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 9 Sep. 2023
  • The reasons vary, from inadequate preparation in public high schools to the economic hurdles of paying for books or rent while in college.
    — Erika Page, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 May 2023
  • And worst of all, the U.S. suffered from unprepared pilots and inadequate tactics, such as Air Force formations that were too rigid in combat.
    — Popular Mechanics, 14 Mar. 2023
  • And the situation is only made more dire with an inadequate level of access.
    — Paul Appleby, Forbes, 3 May 2023
  • Then, more instances of inadequate citation came to light.
    — Harry Bruinius, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 Jan. 2024
  • Adams said four voting locations for a Senate district of that size was inadequate.
    — Olivia Krauth, The Courier-Journal, 24 Jan. 2023
  • The parcels containing those items will have become undeliverable for a number of reasons, including that the address is inadequate or illegible, or that the person may have moved or there is no return address.
    — Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week Uk, theweek, 16 Oct. 2024
  • Employees are responsible for almost 90% of cyberattacks, yet the efforts to mitigate this risk have been largely inadequate.
    — Uzair Ahmed, Forbes, 16 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inadequate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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