tolerable
Americanadjective
-
capable of being tolerated; endurable.
His arrogance is no longer tolerable.
- Synonyms:
- supportable, bearable
-
fairly good; not bad.
- Synonyms:
- so-so, indifferent, middling, passable
-
Informal. in fair health.
adjective
-
able to be tolerated; endurable
-
permissible
-
informal fairly good
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tolerable
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin tolerābilis, equivalent to tolerā ( re ) to endure + -bilis -ble
Explanation
Something that's tolerable is something you're able to live with. The best thing you can say about sleeping in a tent with your younger siblings might be that it's tolerable. If you can tolerate something, or put up with it, it's tolerable. You can also use this adjective to mean "good enough" or "adequate." If your waiter asks how your meal is and you answer, "The pizza is tolerable," you're not giving a rave review; you're basically saying, "It's average" or "It's edible, but nothing special." Tolerable comes from the Latin tolerabilis, "that may be endured."
Vocabulary lists containing tolerable
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Vocabulary from "Stop Expecting Games to Build Empathy" by Julie Muncy
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Farewell to Manzanar
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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.
That was tolerable when officials thought the Iran war would resolve quickly.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
Early data suggest this combined treatment could deliver superior weight loss with more tolerable side effects, creating a competitive gap that will be difficult for rivals like Novo to close.
From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026
She became the woman who, more than perhaps any one other person, made California’s air tolerable, if not technically healthy, and revved up the state’s climate and greenhouse gas policies.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
It’s far easier to sit in the boiling waters of despair until the heat becomes tolerable than it is to try to alter the temperature all on our own.
From Salon • Mar. 14, 2026
The gardens were sparse, suppressed by a long winter, and the buildings had not weathered well, but enough of the fair remained to give him “a tolerable idea” of what the exposition once had been.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
