Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- That may be borne or endured; supportable, either physically or mentally.
- Fit to be tolerated; sufferable.
- Moderately good or agreeable; not contemptible; not very excellent or pleasing, but such as can be borne or received without positive approval or disapproval; passable; mediocre.
- In fair health; passably well.
- Synonyms and
- Endurable, bearable.
- Indifferent, ordinary, so-so.
Wiktionary
- adj. Capable of being borne, tolerated or endured; bearable or endurable.
- adj. Moderate in degree; mediocre; passable, acceptable or so-so.
- adj. Such as to be tolerated or countenanced; permissible; allowable.
- adj. In fair health; passably well.
- adv. dialect tolerably; passably; moderately.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Capable of being borne or endured; supportable, either physically or mentally.
- adj. Moderately good or agreeable; not contemptible; not very excellent or pleasing, but such as can be borne or received without disgust, resentment, or opposition; passable.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. capable of being borne or endured
- adj. about average; acceptable.
Etymologies
- tolerate + -able (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Of course, Warren might regret actually finishing the drink, which he described as "tolerable, but not good.”
“Read on, and thou wilt find thy spirit engaged: not by the deserts of what we call tolerable, but by the commands of a pen that is above it.”
“In the class of 1844 one student obtained his degree of A.B. whose grades in the Senior year were "very bad" in Latin, "tolerable" in Chemistry and in Constitutional Law.”
“But the Unites States decision to place American hunter-killer ballistic missiles, first strike missiles, 110 miles from the Chinese mainland, on soil that China sees, rightly or wrongly, as Chinese soil, is NOT within tolerable limits.”
“At the same time, the only thing that makes incipient American Fascism tolerable is seeing Conservatives fall victim to it.”
“The only thing that makes it remotely tolerable is the fact that the government in question is as local as possible.”
“More tolerable is a similar practice in the realm of hard news, as when Tom Brokaw or Wolf Blitzer utters the plural WMD ( 'weapons of mass destruction').”
“The man was speaking in tolerable Portuguese, but with a strong guttural accent.”
“Prof. Bryce, that distinguished man who is still in tolerable activity as he is running fast on to the 90th mile stone, once said that no man is educated who does not know the Bible.”
“The room was in tolerable order, much better than when Mrs. Ladley was about.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tolerable’.
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understatements
certain words seem given to usage in understatement, as pat phrases, by the mechanism of cliché; others because restraint, moderation or ambiguity are implicit in the words' definitions; and others...
no love lost, a minor inconveni..., that could have g..., he chose poorly, crossing the stre..., I've got a feelin..., slight miscalcula..., oh bother, not amused, no fun, a bit much, a little under th... and 55 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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huck finnian
ain't, stretchers, without, sivilize, hogshead, victuals, bulrushers, tolerable, goggles, middling, reckoned, who-whooing and 287 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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"ble"
fallible, palpable, irascible, suasible, persuasible, commendable, admirable, dissoluble, habitable, imitable, tolerable, navigable and 21 more...
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Heeja - No Thankyou Thanksgiving
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