intolerable

• untolerable (obsolete)

From Middle French intolerable, from Latin intolerābilis. By surface analysis, in- +‎ tolerable.

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧tol‧er‧able

intolerable (comparative more intolerable, superlative most intolerable)

1. Not tolerable; not capable of being borne or endured.

   Synonyms: insufferable, insupportable, unbearable, unsittable

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:

     “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 The Guardian‎:

     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.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E Smith, editors (1911), “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.

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

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencia)

intolerable m or f (masculine and feminine plural intolerables)

1. intolerable

   Synonym: insuportable

   Antonym: tolerable

• intolerablement

• intolerabilitat

• “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], 2007 April
• “intolerable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “intolerable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “intolerable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Latin intolerābilis. By surface analysis, in- +‎ tolerable.

• IPA^(key): /intoleˈɾable/
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: in‧to‧le‧ra‧ble

intolerable m or f (masculine and feminine plural intolerables)

1. intolerable

   Synonym: insoportable

   Antonym: tolerable

• “intolerable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10