satisficing means both satisfying and sufficient. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 85 out of 100.
Why “satisficing” is a great word
SATISFICING — [Adjective] Describing a decision-making strategy that opts for an adequate or 'good enough' outcome rather than an optimal one. From the verb 'satisfice', a blend of 'satisfy' and 'suffice', coined in the mid-20th century by economist and Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon. Unlike optimizing, which seeks the single best possible result, or maximizing, which implies an exhaustive pursuit of the greatest value, satisficing is the deliberate cessation of search once a threshold is met. It is closing the browser after finding a decent hotel, selecting the first perfectly ripe apple from the pile, or buying the umbrella that simply keeps you dry—a quiet, liberating acknowledgment that in a world of infinite choices, a solved problem is its own form of perfection.
adj
- Both satisfying and sufficient.“A ‘satisficing’ path, a path that will permit satisfaction at some specified level of all its needs.”
noun
- The act or process of satisficing.“The end of the poem ["The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost] does not actually depict the narrator looking back at a bold decision with pride. Rather, the narrator is projecting to a future in which they will tell the story of this choice as if it mattered, when really it made no difference. The poem is about agonizing over meaningless decisions. Frost wrote it for a friend of his, Edward Thomas, wh”