Intolerable

How to spell intolerable

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce intolerable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intolerable mean?

1. adjectiveSo severe, unpleasant, or unacceptable that it cannot be endured or put up with.

Intolerable in a sentence

• The noise from the building site made working from home intolerable.

• Staff complained that the long hours had become intolerable.

Where does intolerable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin intolerabilis, meaning 'that cannot be borne', formed from the negative prefix in- ('not') and tolerabilis ('bearable'). The heart of it is the verb tolerare, which literally meant 'to bear', 'to carry', or 'to endure', the same root that gives us 'tolerate' and 'toleration'. English adopted the word in the late 1300s, partly through Old French and partly straight from Latin, keeping the sense of something so severe that it simply cannot be put up with. A useful spelling anchor is that the word is built on 'tolerable', so once you can spell that, you only add in- at the front; the ending is -able (not -ible) because it grew from a Latin form that already carried the -abilis suffix.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• toler (from Latin tolerare: to bear, endure)
• -able (capable of being)