tolerate
Americanverb (used with object)
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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:
“We will not tolerate criminal activity disguised as a celebration,” the department said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
"We need to be very much aware of how much we can tolerate... what we're going to be put through," she said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
“The U.S. government may prove increasingly unwilling to tolerate a prolonged bear market given how central equities have become to Americans’ retirement savings,” Balchunas said in his report, which he shared with MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
"We will not tolerate such disorder on our streets, or attacks on our officers," a spokesperson for the force added.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
“Marlena would never tolerate meat on board with her horses.”
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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
Building a resilient portfolio that tolerates inflation is a good start.
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
In Hecox, it may resolve the case on mootness grounds or reaffirm that intermediate scrutiny tolerates generalizations even when they imperfectly fit at the margins.
From Slate ● Jan. 14, 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
Because telmisartan is taken by mouth, has an established safety record, and is well tolerated even by people without hypertension, researchers believe it is well suited for rapid testing in cancer patients.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
When it was adopted, California’s Article I, Section 18 decreed: “Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this State.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which manages the National Mall in downtown Washington, described the incident as "deranged vandalism" and said it "will not be tolerated."
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Officials said excessive volatility and one-sided market moves wouldn’t be tolerated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
When Wharton finished, a nurse wheeled Henrietta back into the ward, and Wharton wrote in her chart, “The patient tolerated the procedure well and left the operating room in good condition.”
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Souvenir collecting is often a solo sport, with spouses and other travel partners tolerating it or quietly culling the collection when no one’s looking.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
But just remember, tolerating a little heat is always part of owning stocks.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
Executives were presented with a menu of options ranging from temporary shutdowns for repairs while essentially tolerating ongoing oil theft, to halting production for years to fully tackle the problem.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
But her raucous Georgie made me wonder why this solitary older gentleman was tolerating her intrusive madness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
In fact, Danes have more in common with Jamaicans when it comes to tolerating ambiguity than they do with some of their European peers.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
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.
