tolerate
Americanverb (used with object)
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tolerates,
present (3rd person singular)
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tolerated,
past participle, past
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tolerating
present participle
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to allow the existence, presence, practice, or act of without prohibition or hindrance; permit.
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to endure without repugnance; put up with.
I can tolerate laziness, but not incompetence.
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Medicine/Medical. to endure or resist the action of (a drug, poison, etc.).
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Obsolete. to experience, undergo, or sustain, as pain or hardship.
verb
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to treat with indulgence, liberality, or forbearance
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to permit
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to be able to bear; put up with
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med to have tolerance for (a drug, poison, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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toleratornoun
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nontoleratedadjective
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nontolerativeadjective
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tolerativeadjective
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untoleratedadjective
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untoleratingadjective
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untolerativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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toleratesimple
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toleratessimple
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have toleratedperfect
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has toleratedperfect
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am toleratingprogressive
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are toleratingprogressive
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is toleratingprogressive
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have been toleratingperfect progressive
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has been toleratingperfect progressive
Past
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toleratedsimple
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had toleratedperfect
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was toleratingprogressive
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were toleratingprogressive
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had been toleratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tolerate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin tolerātus “borne,” past participle of tolerāre “to bear”; akin to thole 2
Explanation
The verb tolerate means "to put up with or allow." You can tolerate your sister's love of Broadway musicals but really, you prefer dramas. Think of tolerate as the open-minded verb. It means you allow something to happen or exist, even if you don't really like it. For example, you don't like your neighbor's loud music but you tolerate because he only blasts it on Saturday afternoons. Scientifically speaking, when your body can tolerate a drug, poison or even pollution, it means you aren't harmed by it.
Vocabulary lists containing tolerate
Bud, Not Buddy
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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List 5
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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:
"Superfluid helium is what is known as a quantum fluid, in which the individual helium atoms lose their identity, and which does not tolerate any impurities within it."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
He and his father prefer spicy food, but the rest of Avelar’s family can’t tolerate as much heat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
He also pointed out the force will not tolerate abuse aimed at police or partner agencies online.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
During your working years, you tolerate the weather where you live because that’s where your job happens to be.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
He could not tolerate a future without Theo.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Justice John Marshall Harlan was the only dissenter: “Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
But a court that tolerates such defiance eventually forfeits the right to demand obedience.
From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2026
Building a resilient portfolio that tolerates inflation is a good start.
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
MIT engineers have created a new aluminum alloy that can be 3D printed, tolerates extreme heat, and reaches strength levels far beyond conventional aluminum.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 29, 2025
The subsidiary reason is that the Party member, like the proletarian, tolerates present-day conditions partly because he has no standards of comparison.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Wahunsonacock, the leader of the Powhatan confederacy that dominated Chesapeake Bay, initially believed he could mold the English newcomers into a client state, and so tolerated their growing presence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The drug was generally well tolerated, and the critically ill patients in the trial lived longer than patients receiving standard treatments.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
While a handful of moderate dissidents are tacitly tolerated as a matter of expedience, most other heretics have been driven from the tent.
From Slate ● Sep. 10, 2026
"Negligence with the safety of students and common people will not be tolerated at any cost," it said.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
I told him I could not spare that much time and we decided to try accelerated treatments, with constant blood tests to see how my system tolerated the medication.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien's clip went viral and triggered a backlash that led to his arrest in Singapore, which has a reputation for not tolerating bad behaviour.
From Barron's ● Apr. 29, 2026
Mohammad Ali Kadivar, an Iranian associate professor of sociology and international studies at Boston College, said these two camps appear to be tolerating each other as they face a shared opponent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 28, 2026
Part of the motivation for tolerating certain risks is to avoid delays caused by disagreements about how much work is needed to make buildings constructed with cladding safe.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
But her raucous Georgie made me wonder why this solitary older gentleman was tolerating her intrusive madness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
Our lives were shaped in this room and now it will never again be the place of people crying, hugging, hating, commiserating, or tolerating, but who knows? but I’m learning that they don’t have to.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
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.
