tolerate

tolerate — verb

1. To allow other people to hold beliefs, follow customs, or behave in ways you per

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

To allow other people to hold beliefs, follow customs, or behave in ways you personally disagree with, without trying to stop them or express disapproval.

Example

Hiro's family learned to tolerate his choice to become an artist instead of a doctor.

tolerate + noun phrase (someone's choice/decision)

The school principal refuses to tolerate any form of bullying among students.

refuse to tolerate + noun phrase

Common collocations
  • tolerate differences
  • tolerate opinions
  • tolerate behaviour
  • refuse to tolerate
  • cannot tolerate
  • will not tolerate
Synonyms
  • accept

    more positive — accept implies genuine approval or agreement, while tolerate suggests you still disagree but choose not to act

  • allow

    more neutral and permission-focused — allow does not carry the sense of personal disagreement

  • permit

    more formal and official — permit often involves rules or authority rather than personal attitude

  • put up with

    more informal and emotional — put up with suggests annoyance or reluctance

Antonyms
  • reject

    refuse to accept or consider

  • prohibit

    formally forbid by authority

  • oppose

    actively resist or argue against

Grammar Patterns

tolerate + noun phrase

tolerate + someone + gerund

Usage Note

This sense often appears in negative or conditional structures (cannot tolerate, refuse to tolerate, will not tolerate). The object is typically a belief, behaviour, or practice rather than a physical condition.

Common Mistakes

I tolerate my best friend's sense of humour.
I put up with my best friend's sense of humour.
For minor everyday annoyances that do not involve moral disagreement, put up with is more natural than tolerate.
The teacher tolerated the students to talk during the exam.
The teacher tolerated the students talking during the exam.
Tolerate can be followed by someone + gerund, not someone + infinitive.

2. To endure a difficult, painful, or irritating situation while continuing to func

2.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

To endure a difficult, painful, or irritating situation while continuing to function normally.

Example

Emre could barely tolerate the loud construction noise outside his apartment.

can barely tolerate + noun phrase

The old wooden bridge cannot tolerate heavy trucks during the rainy season.

Common collocations
  • cannot tolerate
  • can barely tolerate
  • have to tolerate
  • tolerate pain
  • tolerate heat
  • tolerate noise
  • tolerate delay
Synonyms
  • bear

    simpler and more common in everyday speech; bear can be used for physical and emotional burdens

  • endure

    more formal and suggests a longer, more difficult experience

  • stand

    very common in negative constructions (cannot stand); more emotional than tolerate

  • withstand

    used for physical strength or resistance; often of objects or materials

Antonyms
  • succumb

    give in to pressure or difficulty

  • avoid

    stay away from rather than endure

  • collapse

    fail under pressure (of structures or systems)

Grammar Patterns

tolerate + noun phrase

tolerate + gerund

Usage Note

In this sense, the subject can be a person, an animal, or even an inanimate object (e.g., a structure or material). When used with inanimate subjects, the meaning shifts to 'be strong enough to withstand.'

Common Mistakes

I cannot tolerate him.' (when you simply dislike him as a person)
I cannot tolerate his rude behaviour.
Tolerate takes a situation or behaviour as its object, not a person directly, in the ENDURE sense.
She tolerated with the pain.
She tolerated the pain.
Tolerate is transitive and takes a direct object; do not add a preposition.

3. To receive a drug, treatment, food, or environmental condition without having un

3.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

To receive a drug, treatment, food, or environmental condition without having unwanted physical reactions or health problems.

Example

The patient did not tolerate the chemotherapy well and developed severe nausea afterward.

not tolerate + [medicine] well

Some people cannot tolerate dairy products because their bodies lack the necessary enzyme.

cannot tolerate + food/drink

Common collocations
  • tolerate medication
  • tolerate treatment
  • tolerate food
  • tolerate heat
  • tolerate well
  • poorly tolerate
  • cannot tolerate
Synonyms
  • withstand

    more general — withstand can apply to physical forces, not just biological substances

  • resist

    different nuance — resist suggests active defence or opposition, while tolerate suggests neutral acceptance

Antonyms
  • reject

    the body's immune system actively fights the substance

  • react to

    experience an adverse response

Grammar Patterns

tolerate + noun phrase

Usage Note

Frequently used in medical and clinical contexts. The subject is typically a patient or organism, and the object is a substance (drug, food, chemical) or condition. The adverb well often follows: tolerate something well / not tolerate something well.

Common Mistakes

The patient tolerated to the new medicine.
The patient tolerated the new medicine well.
Tolerate is transitive in this sense as well; no preposition is needed.

Word family

  • tolerance
    nounB2
  • tolerant
    adjectiveB2
  • toleration
    nounC1
  • tolerantly
    adverbC1
  • intolerant
    adjectiveB2
  • intolerance
    nounB2
  • intolerable
    adjectiveB2
  • intolerably
    adverbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Tolerate, accept, allow, permit, and put up with all relate to letting something happen or exist, but they differ in emotional tone and context. Tolerate is the most neutral: you let something continue despite disliking it — for example, a community may tolerate a loud festival once a year even though residents find it annoying. Accept is warmer: it implies genuine approval or willingness, as when a family accepts a new member's different lifestyle. Allow is more practical and permission-focused, often used for rules: the school allows casual dress on Fridays. Permit is the most formal and official: the city permits street vendors only in designated areas. Put up with is the most informal and emotionally coloured, carrying a sense of reluctant endurance: neighbours put up with the barking dog because they like the owners. Choose tolerate for formal contexts where disagreement exists but no action is taken; choose put up with for everyday complaints among friends.

tolerate ↗accept ↗allow ↗permit ↗put up with ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • can/cannot tolerate
  • refuse to tolerate
  • be unable to tolerate
  • be unwilling to tolerate
  • learn to tolerate
  • have to tolerate

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-Indo-EuropeanLatinFrenchEnglish

Tolerate comes from the Latin verb tolerare, meaning 'to bear, endure, or sustain.' This Latin root traces further back to the Proto-Indo-European root *tele-, meaning 'to lift, support, or bear.' The word entered English in the early 16th century through French tolérer, initially with the meaning of 'to endure or bear pain or hardship.' By the 17th century, it had developed the social and political sense of allowing others to hold different beliefs, especially in the context of religious freedom. The medical sense, referring to the body's ability to handle drugs or substances, emerged in the 19th century with the rise of modern pharmacology.