can't stand

1. Also,. Thoroughly dislike; be unable to put up with something or someone. For example, I can't stand the sight of her; she's obnoxious, or I can't bear to leave the country, or I can't stomach a filthy kitchen. The oldest of these synonymous expressions is can't abide, which Shakespeare used in 2 Henry IV (3:2): “She could not abide Master Shallow.” Can't stand dates from the early 1600; can't bear dates from about 1700 and often but not always is used with an infinitive; can't stomach dates from the late 1600s and today is less common than the others.

Example Sentences

It said: "Men do talk about girls behind their backs. Unpopularity often begins with the first hint of underarm odour. This is one fault men can't stand - one fault they can't forgive."

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Naturally, Sybil can’t stand the thought of her first-born child limiting his worldview, especially because Everett was the one to expand hers.

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“I can’t stand the fact that this is still happening to people — and it is. Nothing’s changed. The stuff we saw happen in Sandy, we see all over the country” today, he told MarketWatch.

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But Burnham can’t stand against Starmer until he first becomes a lawmaker, no easy feat given Labour’s poor polling.

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To quote one of his popular tweets, “Who we actually can’t stand are angry, liberal, white women.”

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Related Words

• abhor 
• despise 
• detest 
• loathe 
• scorn 
• shun