Tolerable

How to spell tolerable

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce tolerable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tolerable mean?

1. adjectiveFairly good or acceptable, though not excellent.
2. adjectiveAble to be endured or put up with.

Tolerable in a sentence

• The hotel was basic but tolerable for one night.

• The heat became tolerable once the evening breeze arrived.

• Her latest report was tolerable, even if it lacked detail.

• Painkillers kept the discomfort at a tolerable level all week.

Where does tolerable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb tolerare, which meant 'to bear', 'to endure', or 'to put up with', the same root that gives us 'tolerate' and 'toleration'. The Latin adjective tolerabilis described something that could be borne or endured. English took the word in through Old French in the fifteenth century, originally with the strict sense of 'bearable' or 'capable of being suffered'. Over time the meaning softened in everyday use, so that 'tolerable' came to describe anything merely acceptable or fairly good rather than something one actively dislikes. The spelling trap sits in the middle: the unstressed schwa vowels can tempt a writer toward 'tolerible', but the suffix is the common Latin '-able', and the root keeps the same '-er-' you hear in 'tolerate'.

How the word is built

• toler- (from Latin tolerare: to bear, endure)
• -able (capable of, suffix forming adjectives)