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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɒl.ə.ɹeɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑ.lə.ɹeɪt/

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

1. (transitive) To allow or permit without explicit approval, usually if it is perceived as negative.

   Synonyms: allow; see also Thesaurus:tolerate

   The party tolerated corruption within its ranks.

2. (transitive) To bear, withstand.

   Synonyms: bear, live with, put up with, (chiefly in the negative) stand

   I can tolerate working on Saturday, but not Sunday.

   The elevator can tolerate up to 360 kilograms.

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing).
• In sense 1, this verb almost always carries a negative connotation. This is in contrast with related tolerance and tolerant, which are usually perceived as positive characteristics.

• “tolerate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “tolerate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “tolerate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

tolerate

1. present adverbial passive participle of toleri

tolerāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of tolerō  "bear ye, endure ye, tolerate ye"

tolerāte

1. vocative masculine singular of tolerātus

tolerate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of tolerar combined with te