intolerable

See also: intolérable

English

Alternative forms

• untolerable (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English intolerable, borrowed from Middle French intolerable, from Latin intolerābilis. By surface analysis, in- +‎ tolerable.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɑləɹəbl̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɒləɹəbl̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧tol‧er‧able

Adjective

intolerable (comparative more intolerable, superlative most intolerable)

1. Not tolerable; not capable of being borne or endured. [from the 15th c.]

   Synonyms: insufferable, insupportable, unbearable, unsittable

   • 2026 September 3, James Gregory, “More than 80 migrants feared dead after boat rescued off Canary Islands”, in BBC News‎^[1], archived from the original on 2 October 2026:

     Fernando Clavijo, head of the Canary Islands government, posted on X: "It is intolerable that lives continue to be lost. The Canaries cannot get used to or accept as normal the fact that the Atlantic continues to be a death trap."

2. Extremely offensive or insulting.
   • 1971, William S. Burroughs, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead, page 4:

     It is an intolerable sound that sets spoons tinkling in saucers and windowpanes vibrating.

   • 2019 May 28, Jack Guy and Antonia Mortensen, “Germans urged to wear Jewish skullcap ahead of anti-Israel protests”, in CNN‎^[2], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 15 August 2025:

     “I call on all citizens of Berlin and across Germany to wear the yarmulke (as the skullcap is known in Yiddish) next Saturday if there are new, intolerable attacks targeting Israel and Jews on the occasion of Al-Quds Day in Berlin,” said Felix Klein in a statement.

3. (nuclear power) Extremely worn and degraded, to the point of being unsafe.
   • 2022 December 15, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[3], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 October 2026:

     o take apart an ageing nuclear facility, you have to put a lot of other things together first. New technologies, for instance, and new buildings to replace the intolerable ones, and new reserves of money.

Derived terms

• intolerability
• intolerableness
• intolerably

Collocations

with nouns

• intolerable cruelty
• intolerable burden
• intolerable situation
• intolerable condition
• intolerable pain
• intolerable heat
• intolerable position
• intolerable life
• intolerable state
• intolerable suffering
• intolerable evil
• intolerable risk
• intolerable insult
• intolerable hardship
• intolerable agony
• intolerable behavior
• intolerable affront
• intolerable insolence
• intolerable stress
• intolerable consequence
• intolerable people
• intolerable
• intolerable
• intolerable
• intolerable
• intolerable
• intolerable
• intolerable
• intolerable
• intolerable

Translations

not tolerable

• Azerbaijani: dözülməz
• Belarusian: нязно́сны (njaznósny), невыно́сны (njevynósny), нясце́рпны (njascjérpny)
• Bulgarian: нетърпим (bg) (netărpim)
• Catalan: intolerable (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 难以忍受的,難以忍受的 (nányǐrěnshòu de)

• Esperanto: netolerebla
• Finnish: sietämätön (fi)
• French: intolérable (fr)
• Galician: intolerable (gl)
• German: unerträglich (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἀφόρητος (aphórētos)

• Icelandic: óþolandi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uutholdelig (no)

• Polish: nieznośny (pl)
• Portuguese: intolerável (pt)
• Russian: невыноси́мый (ru) (nevynosímyj), нестерпи́мый (ru) (nesterpímyj), несно́сный (ru) (nesnósnyj)
• Spanish: intolerable (es), infumable (es)
• Thai: เหลืออด (lʉ̌ʉa-òt), เหลือทน (th) (lʉ̌ʉa-ton), สุดจะทน (sùt-jà-ton)
• Tocharian B: ekalätte
• Ukrainian: незно́сний (neznósnyj), несте́рпний (nestérpnyj)
• Urdu: ناقابِلِ بَرْداشْت (nāqābil-e bardāśt)

extremely offensive

• Azerbaijani: dözülməz
• Spanish: de juzgado de guardia (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Romanian: intolerabil (ro) m or n, netolerabil m or n

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “intolerable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “intolerable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin intolerābilis. By surface analysis, in- +‎ tolerable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [in.tu.ləˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [in.to.ləˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [in.to.leˈɾa.ble]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [in.to.leˈɾab.ble]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

intolerable m or f (masculine and feminine plural intolerables)

1. intolerable

   Synonym: insuportable

   Antonym: tolerable

Derived terms

• intolerablement

Related terms

• intolerabilitat

Further reading

• “intolerable”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “intolerable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “intolerable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “intolerable”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Italic *n̥-

Latin in-

Latin tolerō

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin tolerābilis

Latin intolerābilisder.

Spanish intolerable

Derived from Latin intolerābilis. By surface analysis, in- + tolerable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /intoleˈɾable/ [ĩn̪.t̪o.leˈɾa.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: in‧to‧le‧ra‧ble

Adjective

intolerable m or f (masculine and feminine plural intolerables)

1. intolerable

   Synonym: insoportable

   Antonym: tolerable

Derived terms

• intolerabilidad
• intolerablemente

Further reading

• “intolerable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026