Tolerable

//ˈtɑləɹəbl̩// adj, adv

adj, adv ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Capable of being borne, tolerated or endured; bearable or endurable.
  2. 2
    Moderate in degree; mediocre; passable, acceptable or so-so.

    "A cabled despatch is better than nothing, but a voicecast of tolerable quality is preferable, and in certain types of story a voicecast with live or recorded actuality is best of all."

  3. 3
    Such as to be tolerated or countenanced; permissible; allowable.
  4. 4
    In fair health; passably well.
Adjective
  1. 1
    about average; acceptable wordnet
  2. 2
    capable of being borne or endured wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    tolerably; passably; moderately. dialectal

Example

More examples

"His arrogance is no longer tolerable."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English tolerable, borrowed from Middle French tolerable, from Latin tolerābilis.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.