endurable

American  

[en-door-uh-buhl, -dyoor-] / ɛnˈdʊər ə bəl, -ˈdyʊər- /

adjective

1. capable of being endured; bearable; tolerable.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unendurableness
  noun
• endurably
  adverb
• unendurably
  adverb
• unendurable
  adjective
• unendurability
  adjective
• endurableness
  noun
• nonendurable
  adjective
• endurability
  noun

Etymology

Origin of endurable

First recorded in 1600–10; endure + -able

Explanation

If you can tolerate something, it's endurable. Getting a cavity filled at the dentist, while not very fun, is still endurable. Use the adjective endurable to describe something that's no fun, but that a person can generally deal with. Standardized tests are endurable, and eating soggy, overcooked broccoli is endurable. A long ride on a stormy sea — as long as the ship doesn't capsize — is also endurable. To endure something is to withstand it — if it's endurable, it can be endured. The word is rooted in the Latin indurare, "to make hard or firm."