endurable
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of endurable
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."
Vocabulary lists containing endurable
The Bluest Eye
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The Voyage of the Frog
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
I’m partial to Temple this time around for no other reason than the fact that her presence made the 10-episode run of “The Godfather” limited series “The Offer” almost endurable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2022
So how do you know when a gross but endurable situation requires medical intervention?
From Salon ● May 16, 2021
“Which pain will be least endurable? The physical, or the mental anguish of having freedom offered if the truth is told, then telling it and being thought a liar.”
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
