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Superficial vs Adequate - What's the difference?

superficial | adequate |

As adjectives the difference between superficial and adequate

is that superficial is shallow, lacking substance while adequate is .

As a noun superficial

is (chiefly in plural) a surface detail.

superficial

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Shallow, lacking substance.
  • At face value.
  • *
  • Secondly, I continue to base my concepts on intensive study of a limited suite of collections, rather than superficial study of every packet that comes to hand.
  • Of or pertaining to the surface.
  • Being near the surface.
  • (rare) Two-dimensional; drawn on a flat surface.
  • Synonyms

    * (of or pertaining to the surface) surficial

    Antonyms

    * in-depth * thorough * (lacking substance) substantive

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chiefly in plural) A surface detail.
  • He always concentrates on the superficials and fails to see the real issue.

    adequate

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Equal to some requirement; proportionate, or correspondent; fully sufficient; as, powers adequate to a great work; an adequate definition lawfully and physically sufficient.
  • * De Quincey
  • Ireland had no adequate champion.
  • * Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Empty House
  • All day, as I drove upon my round, I turned over the case in my mind and found no explanation which appeared to me to be adequate .

    Antonyms

    * inadequate

    Verb

    (adequat)
  • (obsolete) To equalize; to make adequate.
  • (Fotherby)
  • (obsolete) To equal.
  • It [is] an impossibility for any creature to adequate God in his eternity. — Shelford.