Help! Seeking a word...


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Awhile back, someone used a word in writing (as a verb) that I *believe* started with an "s" and ended with "-fice". I vaguely recall looking it up at the time and finding it meant along the lines of doing enough to get by / saying an adequate amount had been done and moving onward from there.

Believe it was used as if one was saying "There's only so much time worthwhile to put into this project. We've already put in a decent effort. It's time to just ???? and turn it in."

I've had words like "superfice" and "supterfice" in my head, but can't find related definitions associated with such (though think something like "superfice" may be close due to similarity to "superficial").

Anyway, does anyone know what the term is (it's a verb), or was the person just "doing enough" with their own vocabulary? I'd swear I actually found a legitimate working definition for the word at the time.

Anyway, many *many* thanks in advance to anyone who might know the answer. :)

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Nope, suffice isn't it. It was something rarer that I'd never heard before, but did eventually find when I looked it up at the time.

Example of usage:

Can't we just ??? and turn the project in?

Equivalent meaning would be along the lines of "say this is sufficient", but it was a one-word verb. Again, "superfice" is the closest thing I've had in my head (Can't we just superfice and turn the project in?), but that's not the actual word.

I've tried multiple attempts at Google-type things and otherwise, but can't find it again.

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  • 3 weeks later...

If anyone cares, finally found the word when I overheard it being used today. Many thanks for earlier thoughts. The word is:

satisfice

"To obtain an outcome that is good enough. Satisficing action can be contrasted with maximizing action, which seeks the biggest, or with optimizing action, which seeks the best.

"In recent decades doubts have arisen about the view that in all rational decision-making the agent seeks the best result. Instead, it is argued, it is often rational to seek to satisfice, i.e. to get a good result that is good enough although not necessarily the best."

See also:

http://web.uvic.ca/akeller/pw408/r_satisfice.html

Thanks again!!

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Part of why I had so much problem finding it is that many dictionaries don't carry it (yet), especially things like dictionary.com -- it's generally considered an "obscure" term, or one whose use is limited to some fields. (Sounds like it was popular to use in the 60s and 70s, but has had a bit of a resurgence, especially in IT?) It does readily turn up if one does a Google search, is listed in the Penguin "Dictionary of Philosophy", etc.

From what I've since come across several places, it was first (re-?) used in "modern" times "by Herbert A. Simon in his 'Models of Man', 1957." Can still be used most often in IT, economics, business management, social sciences, and some other areas of computer science.... Appears to be a verb created by the combination of "satisfy" and "suffice".

Anyway, satisfice:

[verb] decide on and pursue a course of action satisfying the minimum requirements to achieve a goal; "optimization requires processes that are more complex than those needed to merely satisfice".

If anyone cares or questions it as a real word, see also things like:

http://web.uvic.ca/akeller/pw408/r_satisfice.html

http://www.utilitarianism.com/satisfice.htm

http://www.great-web-design-tips.com/web-s...design/159.html

http://www.commerce-database.com/Verbs/satisfice.htm

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/satisfice

http://www-commerce.concordia.ca/comm212/r...g.htm#Satisfice

http://www.ramanarao.com/informationflow/a...ve/2002-06.html

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