suboptimal

adj

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Latin sub Latin sub-der. English sub- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi Proto-Indo-European *-tm̥mos ? Latin optimus Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al English -al English optimal English suboptimal From sub- + optimal.

1. Worse than optimal; of less than the highest standard or quality.

   “Near-synonym: submaximal”

   “A quickly produced suboptimal solution to a problem is often more useful than an optimal one that takes a long time to produce.”