Intolerant

How to spell intolerant

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce intolerant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does intolerant mean?

1. adjectiveUnwilling to accept views, beliefs, or behaviour that differ from one's own.
2. adjectiveUnable to physically endure a substance, condition, or treatment without an adverse reaction.

Intolerant in a sentence

• The new manager was openly intolerant of any dissenting opinion in meetings.

• Many adults become intolerant of lactose as they grow older.

• Growing up, he found his uncle deeply intolerant toward people of other faiths.

• These tropical orchids are intolerant of frost and must be kept indoors over winter.

Where does intolerant come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb tolerare, which literally meant 'to bear, endure, or put up with' a burden or hardship. From the present participle tolerans came the adjective sense of 'enduring', and the negating prefix in-, meaning 'not', produced intolerans, describing something or someone unable to bear or endure. English adopted intolerant in the seventeenth century, partly through French intolerant, and at first it carried the sense of 'unable to endure' a thing, as a plant intolerant of frost. From there it broadened to describe a person unwilling to tolerate the opinions, beliefs, or behaviour of others. The same tolerare root underlies the everyday words 'tolerate', 'toleration', and 'tolerance', and remembering that shared 'toler' core helps keep the single l firmly in place.

How the word is built

• in- (not)
• toler- (from tolerare: to endure, bear)
• -ant (adjective suffix)