Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To fulfill the need, desire, or expectation of.
  • intransitive verb To fulfill (a need or desire).
  • intransitive verb To free from doubt or question; convince.
  • intransitive verb To provide sufficient explanation to dispel or answer (a doubt or question).
  • intransitive verb To meet or be sufficient for (a requirement); conform to the requirements of (a standard, for example).
  • intransitive verb To discharge (a debt or obligation, for example) in full.
  • intransitive verb To discharge an obligation to (a creditor).
  • intransitive verb To make reparation for; redress.
  • intransitive verb Mathematics To make the left and right sides of (an equation) equal after substituting equivalent quantities for the unknown variables.
  • intransitive verb To be sufficient or adequate.
  • intransitive verb To give satisfaction.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To supply or gratify completely; fulfil the wishes or desires of; content: as, to satisfy hunger or thirst; to satisfy one's curiosity or one's expectations.
  • To comply with; discharge fully; liquidate; pay; hence, to requite; remunerate; recompense: as, to satisfy the claims of a creditor; to satisfy one for service rendered.
  • To make reparation or amends for; atone for; expiate: as, to satisfy a wrong.
  • To assure or free from doubt, uncertainty, or suspense; convince; also, to set at rest, as a doubt: as, to satisfy one's self by inquiry.
  • To fulfil the conditions of; answer: as, an algebraical equation is said to be satisfied when, after the substitution of particular expressions for the unknown quantities which enter it, the two members are equal.
  • To give satisfaction or contentment: as, earthly good never satisfies.
  • To make requital, reparation, or amends; atone.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To give satisfaction; to afford gratification; to leave nothing to be desired.
  • intransitive verb To make payment or atonement; to atone.
  • transitive verb In general, to fill up the measure of a want of (a person or a thing); hence, to grafity fully the desire of; to make content; to supply to the full, or so far as to give contentment with what is wished for.
  • transitive verb To pay to the extent of claims or deserts; to give what is due to.
  • transitive verb To answer or discharge, as a claim, debt, legal demand, or the like; to give compensation for; to pay off; to requite.
  • transitive verb To free from doubt, suspense, or uncertainty; to give assurance to; to set at rest the mind of; to convince.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To do enough; to meet (needs); to fulfill (wishes, requirements).
  • verb To cause (a sentence) to be true when (the sentence) is interpreted in one's universe.
  • verb dated, literary To convince, to ascertain.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make happy or satisfied
  • verb meet the requirements or expectations of
  • verb fill or meet a want or need

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English satisfien, from Old French satisfier, from Latin satisfacere : satis, sufficient; see sā- in Indo-European roots + facere, to make; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin satisfacere, present active infinitive of satisfaciō, from satis ("enough, sufficient") + faciō ("make, do")

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