tolerable

adjective

tol·​er·​a·​ble ˈtä-lə-rə-bəl 

ˈtäl-rə-;

ˈtä-lər-bəl

1

: capable of being borne or endured

tolerable pain

2

: moderately good or agreeable : passable

a tolerable singing voice

tolerability

ˌtä-lə-rə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

ˌtäl-rə-

noun

tolerably

ˈtä-lə-rə-blē 

ˈtäl-rə-;

ˈtä-lər-blē

adverb

Synonyms

• endurable
• sustainable
• bearable
• sufferable

Examples of tolerable in a Sentence

The heat was tolerable for only a short time.

stubbing your toe is at least a more tolerable pain than breaking your foot

Recent Examples on the Web

For all the speed and tools that players like Tyler Fitzgerald and Grant McCray bring to the roster, their high strikeout rates won’t be so tolerable. —Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025

From smart networking to storage acceleration, each component in the stack must pull its weight—idle resources are no longer tolerable. —Sven Oehme, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025

The show is most tolerable when opponents are equally matched, when each party understands the proper rules of engagement. —Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2025

The original films set a high bar for the number of such random asides included, but Schaffer and co-writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand did their best to incorporate the maximum amount tolerable. —Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 8 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for tolerable

• intolerable

Kids Definition

tolerable

adjective

tol·​er·​able

ˈtäl-(ə-)rə-bəl,

ˈtäl-ər-bəl

1

: capable of being put up with

tolerable pain

2

: fairly good

a tolerable singing voice

tolerably

-blē

adverb