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

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

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."

Example Sentences

Could a cold plunge be not only endurable but enjoyable?

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

Clearly, this verbiage is bad on purpose — which doesn’t make it any less endurable.

From New York Times • Dec. 14, 2022

With a price per viewing of zero, Netflix and Amazon Prime shows only have to be endurable.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 4, 2019

With victories over the Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals in hand, the 10-plus-hour flight home was no doubt far more endurable than it might have been following a loss or two.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 23, 2017

The thought, certainly, couldn’t have been endurable for more than a few seconds.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger