Synonyms

tolerate

American

[tol-uh-reyt] / ˈtɒl əˌreɪt /

verb (used with object)

to allow the existence, presence, practice, or act of without prohibition or hindrance; permit.
to endure without repugnance; put up with.

I can tolerate laziness, but not incompetence.

Synonyms:

accept, support
Medicine/Medical. to endure or resist the action of (a drug, poison, etc.).
Obsolete. to experience, undergo, or sustain, as pain or hardship.

tolerate British

/ ˈtɒləˌreɪt /

verb

to treat with indulgence, liberality, or forbearance
to permit
to be able to bear; put up with
med to have tolerance for (a drug, poison, etc)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

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.

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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:

tolerate tolerates tolerated tolerating

By making certain stress-related genes easier to activate, early adversity may leave the brain more reactive and less able to tolerate future stress.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

For the study, a US team led by researchers at Stanford University sought to estimate how often human-caused global warming will push temperatures to levels that elderly people cannot tolerate.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Some home sellers can’t sell because they cannot tolerate a huge loss.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

It gave Infantino the chance to bite back, saying Fifa would "no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process".

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

I hung on to my brothers and hopped along until I could no longer tolerate the pain of being elbowed or shoved or having someone step on my injured feet.

From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat

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

“We are not a nation that tramples the 4th Amendment and tolerates our neighbors being terrorized,” he said.

From Salon ● Jan. 29, 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

And for her part, she tolerates him better than she does any of the rest of us, even breaking off some of her bread to give him at lunchtime.

From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell

Residents of Savannah, now a tourist mecca known for its moss-draped squares and antebellum architecture, tolerated the river pollution and dismissed the mill’s rotten odor as “the smell of money.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

The crackdown is a signal "to its own tech leaders, more than to anybody else, that attempts to bypass national regulation will not be tolerated," Chang continued.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

“That conduct will never be tolerated among the ranks of those sworn to protect and serve.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Ch Insp Paul Doyle said violence was not "part of the job for police officers" and that it "will not be tolerated".

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

Bobby had tolerated Tal’s stare when they first met over the board in Portorož.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

In a nation fed up with leaders seen as tolerating or colluding with organized crime, Manzo, 40, stood out.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

The RPF has a reputation for not tolerating any dissent, and talking about ethnicity is not encouraged.

From BBC ● May 7, 2026

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

That could lead to the RBA tolerating a recession in order to contain inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026

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