To suffice means to be enough or adequate for a particular need or purpose. When something suffices, it may not be fancy or abundant, but it gets the job done.

If you're packing lunch and only have a small sandwich, it might suffice to hold you over until dinner, even though you'd prefer something more filling. When your teacher says “a one-page summary will suffice,” she means that's all you need to write: more would be unnecessary, and less would be inadequate.

The word often appears in the phrase “suffice it to say,” which means “it's enough to mention” or “the short version is.” If your friend asks how your dentist appointment went, you might reply, “Suffice it to say, I won't be eating candy for a while.” You're indicating that you could tell a longer story, but this brief statement captures the essential point.

Suffice suggests a practical mindset: meeting the actual requirement rather than exceeding it or falling short. When limited resources suffice for a project, you've managed well with what you had. The word reminds us that enough is often genuinely enough.