tolerate

UK/ˈtɒl.ə.ɹeɪt//ˈtɑ.lə.ɹeɪt/

tolerate verb: to allow or permit without explicit approval, usually if it is perceived as negative.

Verb

tolerate (third-person singular simple present tolerates, present participle tolerating, simple past and past participle tolerated)

(transitive) To allow or permit without explicit approval, usually if it is perceived as negative.
- The party tolerated corruption within its ranks.
Synonyms:

allow
(transitive) To bear, withstand.
- I can tolerate working on Saturday, but not Sunday.
- The elevator can tolerate up to 360 kilograms.
Synonyms:

take, endure, withstand, bear, live with, put up with, stand

tolerate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

tolerate in Hindi

To allow without explicit approval: सहना sahnā

tolerate in Tamil

To allow without explicit approval: தாங்கு tāṅku, சகி caki, பொறு poṟu

tolerate in Urdu

to tolerate: برداشت کرنا bardāśt karnā

tolerate in Bengali

to tolerate; to resist; to bear: সহা śôha, সওয়া śoōẇa

More languagesFewer languages

tolerate in Telugu: సహించు sahiñcu
tolerate in Malayalam: സഹിക്കുക sahikkuka
tolerate in Kannada: ತಡೆ taḍe
tolerate in Punjabi: ਸਹਿਣਾ sahiṇā
tolerate in Assamese: সহা xoha
tolerate in Arabic: اِحْتَمَلَ iḥtamala
tolerate in Persian: تاویدن tāvidan, تاوستن tāvestan
tolerate in Vietnamese: chịu đựng

Examples of tolerate in a sentence

I really can’t stomach jobs involving that much paperwork, but some people seem to tolerate them.
I have seen about as many monkeyshines from you as I will tolerate.
We are not so inclusivist as to tolerate intolerance such as yours.

All 40 example sentences with tolerate

Synonyms of tolerate

20 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of tolerate

Forms of tolerate

third-person singular present	tolerates
present participle	tolerating
past participle	tolerated
past	tolerated

Past tense of tolerate: tolerated

Origin of tolerate

Borrowed from Latin tolerātus, the perfect passive participle of tolerō (“to endure”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Cognate with Old English þolian (“to tolerate, suffer, bear”) and French tolérer. More at thole.

Words formed from tolerate

Questions about tolerate

What does tolerate mean?: Tolerate means to allow or permit without explicit approval, usually if it is perceived as negative.
What is tolerate in Hindi?: Tolerate in Hindi is सहना (sahnā). See Tolerate meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is tolerate?: Tolerate is a verb.
How do you pronounce tolerate?: Tolerate is pronounced /ˈtɒl.ə.ɹeɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of tolerate?: The past tense of tolerate is tolerated.

Words near tolerate in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: tolerate (page history and authors); برداشت کرنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); সওয়া (Bengali) (page history and authors); സഹിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ತಡೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ਸਹਿਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); সহা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-tolerate.ogg.

Cite this entry: “tolerate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tolerate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.