The phrase "are merely acceptable" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to express that something is only satisfactory or meets the minimum standards without being exceptional.
Example: "The results of the survey are merely acceptable, indicating that there is significant room for improvement."
Alternatives: "are just satisfactory" or "are only adequate."
With a setting like this, if the food were merely acceptable, the overall experience would be positive.
Skip the typical satay, which is merely acceptable, and instead assemble a near-meal of snazzier appetizers.
Detractors will be watching closely to see whether the elections are fair and whether he chooses as prime minister someone anxious for reform or someone who is merely acceptable to the winning party.
American officials talk of the need for a vote that is merely "acceptable," purposefully avoiding the usual admonition of a "free and fair" election — a goal they say is too lofty given Afghanistan's situation.
By modern DCT standards, however, it's merely acceptable.
In fact, the IIHS' Web site states that the "static" rating of 2006- and 2007-model Corollas is merely "acceptable," and that the car's "dynamic" and "overall" ratings are "poor".
ID cards are merely the acceptable face of the government's real goal: a national identity database designed to allow the state to observe and log almost everything we do.
Not a substantial adjustment, but enough to point to growth taking a downward trajectory, with the fourth quarter unlikely to be anywhere near that 'good' given the absence of revenues from the Olympics and the British Retail Consortium's assessment that Christmas trading has been merely 'acceptable'acceptable
The foreigners are merely working for wages that are acceptable to them under a free-market system of bargaining.
A recognised limitation of this model is that test takers are merely asked to what extent they find a given assessment acceptable.
