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

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

  • Audio (US)

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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)
• Ingrian: siitää
• 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
• Polish: tolerować (pl)
• 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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “tolerate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “tolerate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Esperanto

Adverb

tolerate

1. present adverbial passive participle of toleri

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

Spanish

Verb

tolerate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of tolerar combined with te