tolerate

tolerate

English

Etymology

From Latin tolerātus (past participle), from tolerō (“I endure”). Cognate with Old English þolian (“to tolerate, suffer, bear”). More at thole.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑl.ə.ɹeɪt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɒl.ə.ɹeɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

tolerate (third-person singular simple present tolerates, present participle tolerating, simple past and past participle tolerated)

1. (transitive) To allow or permit without explicit approval, usually if it is perceived as negative.

   Synonyms: allow; see also Thesaurus:tolerate

   The party tolerated corruption within its ranks.

2. (transitive) To bear, withstand.

   Synonyms: live with, put up with

   I can tolerate working on Saturday, but not Sunday.

   The elevator can tolerate up to 360 kilograms.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing).
• In sense 1, this verb almost always carries a negative connotation. This is in contrast with related tolerance and tolerant, which are usually perceived as positive characteristics.

Related terms

• tolerability
• tolerable
• tolerance
• tolerant
• toleration

 

Translations

To allow without explicit approval

Arabic: اِحْتَمَلَ‎ (iḥtamala) Egyptian Arabic: احتمل‎ (iḥtamal) Armenian: հանդուրժել (hy) (handuržel) Bulgarian: толерирам (bg) (toleriram), търпя (bg) (tǎrpja) Catalan: tolerar (ca), suportar (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 忍受 (jan2 sau6), 捱 (ngaai4) Mandarin: 忍受 (zh) (rěnshòu), 熬 (zh) (áo) Czech: tolerovat (cs) Dutch: verdragen (nl), tolereren (nl), toelaten (nl), dulden (nl), gedogen (nl) Finnish: suvaita (fi), sietää (fi) French: tolérer (fr), supporter (fr), souffrir (fr) Galician: tolerar (gl) Georgian: თმენა (tmena), დაშვება (dašveba) German: tolerieren (de), dulden (de), vertragen (de) Haitian Creole: sipòte Hebrew: סָבַל‎ (he) (savál) Hindi: सहना (hi) (sahnā) Ido: tolerar (io) Italian: tollerare (it), sopportare (it), accettare (it) Japanese: 黙認する (ja) (もくにんする, mokunin-surú) Korean: 참는다 (chamneunda) Latin: tolerō Luxembourgish: dëllen Macedonian: трпи (trpi), поднесува (podnesuva), толерира (tolerira) Malay: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: tolerere, tåle (no) Occitan: tolerar (oc), suportar (oc) Old English: ābīdan Portuguese: tolerar (pt), aguentar (pt), suportar (pt) Romanian: tolera (ro), suporta (ro), îngădui (ro) Russian: терпе́ть (ru) impf (terpétʹ), вы́терпеть (ru) pf (výterpetʹ), допуска́ть (ru) impf (dopuskátʹ), допусти́ть (ru) pf (dopustítʹ) Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: tolerěrowaś impf Spanish: tolerar (es), soportar (es) Swedish: tolerera (sv) Tamil: தாங்கு (ta) (tāṅku), சகி (ta) (caki), பொறு (ta) (poṟu) Telugu: సహించు (te) (sahiñcu) Vietnamese: chịu đựng (vi)

Further reading

• tolerate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• tolerate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• tolerate at OneLook Dictionary Search

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Esperanto

Adverb

tolerate

1. present adverbial passive participle of toleri

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Latin

Verb

tolerāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of tolerō  "bear ye, endure ye, tolerate ye"

Participle

tolerāte

1. vocative masculine singular of tolerātus