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

• (UK) IPA: /ˈtɒl.ɜː(ɹ).eɪt/, SAMPA: /"tQl.3:(r).eIt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

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

1. To allow (something that one dislikes or disagrees with) to exist or occur without interference.

   I like the way he plays the guitar, but I can't tolerate his voice when he sings.

   I can tolerate working on Saturdays, but not on Sundays.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• allow, bear, brook, endure, live with, put up with

Related terms

• tolerability
• tolerable
• tolerance
• tolerant
• toleration

Translations

to allow without interference

Arabic: احتمل (ar) (iHtámala) Catalan: tolerar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 忍受 (zh) (rěnshòu) Czech: tolerovat (cs) Dutch: verdragen (nl), tolereren (nl), toelaten (nl), dulden (nl), gedogen (nl) Finnish: suvaita (fi), sietää (fi) French: tolérer (fr), supporter (fr) German: tolerieren (de), dulden (de), vertragen (de) Haitian Creole: sipòte Hindi: सहना (hi) (sahnā) Italian: tollerare (it)

Japanese: 黙認する (ja) (もくにんする, mokunin-surú) Korean: 참는다 (ko) (chamneunda) Luxembourgish: dëllen (lb) Norwegian: tolerere (no), tåle (no) Old English: ābīdan (ang) Portuguese: tolerar (pt), aguentar (pt) Russian: терпеть (ru) (terpét’) impf., вытерпеть (ru) (výterpet’) pf., допускать (ru) (dopuskát’) impf., допустить (ru) (dopustít’) pf. Spanish: tolerar (es), soportar (es) Swedish: tolerera (sv) Telugu: సహించు (sahinchu)

External links

• tolerate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• tolerate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 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