intolerance
Americannoun
-
intolerances
plural
-
lack of tolerance; unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect opinions or beliefs contrary to one's own.
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unwillingness or refusal to tolerate or respect persons of a different social group, especially members of a minority group.
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incapacity or indisposition to bear or endure.
intolerance to heat.
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abnormal sensitivity or allergy to a food, drug, etc.
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an intolerant act.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of intolerance
From the Latin word intolerantia, dating back to 1755–65. See intolerant, -ance
Explanation
Intolerance — or an unwillingness to accept the beliefs or behavior of someone different from you — is not a quality you want to have. Intolerance is what leads to hate crimes and discrimination. The word intolerance comes from a combination of the Latin in- meaning “not” and tolerantem meaning "to bear, endure.” Intolerance is not being able to bear or endure beliefs that are different from your own. You may commonly hear of it used with respect to religious intolerance, which is an unwillingness to accept different religious beliefs.
Vocabulary lists containing intolerance
Vocabulary from news articles about rescued teenage sailor
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Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address (1801)
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A Good Kind of Trouble
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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.
See Examples For:
The report said that play was too often “quietly squeezed out” of daily life by things like increased traffic, screen time, and an intolerance against play in public spaces.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Gilead is not paradise; it is not immune from fear or intolerance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
They all had guesses: maybe arthritis, maybe lactose intolerance, maybe stress.
From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026
A Brazilian study published in Nutrients found that omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil reduced glucose intolerance and weakened insulin resistance in rats that were not obese but showed a diabetes-like metabolic condition.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026
The banana company's city, which Patricia Brown may have tried to evoke for her grandchildren during the nights of intolerance and dill pickles in Prattville, Alabama, was a plain of wild grass.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Disruptions in this newly identified signaling pathway may play a role in conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, food intolerances, and chronic visceral pain.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 28, 2026
This discovery may also help explain a range of digestive issues, including food intolerances and irritable bowel syndrome.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 28, 2026
The various infections, electrolyte imbalances and medication intolerances weakened her to the point of collapse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
The Food Standards Agency said earlier it recognised there were a significant number of foods that could cause allergies or intolerances.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2025
The little weaknesses and gentle intolerances of the good old man were not such as he would censure, nor would he be altogether out of sympathy with them.
From The English Church in the Eighteenth Century by Charles J. (Charles John) Abbey
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.
