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

• bearable
• endurable
• sufferable
• supportable
• sustainable

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

That, combined with inflation that’s back down to more tolerable levels and expectations that the Federal Reserve will start lowering interest rates this fall, seemed to open up room for a little more optimism. —Evan Clark, WWD, 15 Aug. 2024

If anything, Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Megan Mullally manage to elevate the largely empty material to a level of borderline tolerable. —Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 24 July 2024

To the extent the other employers in other professions decide that products of elite schools who exhibit such hatred need not apply, these institutions will be forced to re-evaluate what constitutes tolerable student behavior. —Jason L. Riley, Sun Sentinel, 24 July 2024

Set privacy settings at the highest levels tolerable to you so others can’t see your data, Bernstein said. —Medora Lee, USA TODAY, 8 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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