Tolerant

//ˈtɑːləɹənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who or that which tolerates something, especially a biological species.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Tending to permit, allow, understand, or accept something.

    "He's pretty tolerant of different political views, but don't ask him about religion."

  2. 2
    Tending to withstand or survive.

    "These plants are tolerant of drought and sunlight."

Adjective
  1. 1
    showing or characterized by broad-mindedness wordnet
  2. 2
    tolerant and forgiving under provocation wordnet
  3. 3
    showing the capacity for endurance wordnet
  4. 4
    able to tolerate environmental conditions or physiological stress wordnet
  5. 5
    showing respect for the rights or opinions or practices of others wordnet

Example

More examples

"I cannot be tolerant of naughty children."

Etymology

Either borrowed from French tolérant or directly from its source Latin tolerans, present participle of, and participial adjective from tolerō (“to endure”).

Related phrases

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