intolerable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English intollerable, also intolerable,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French intolerable and directly borrowed from Latin intolerābilis (“that cannot bear; that cannot be borne”),^[3][2][4][5] formed from in- (“not”) and tolerābilis (“that may be endured”),^[6][3][7] from tolerō (“to bear, endure”).^[6] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *tele- (“to bear, carry”).^[6] The OED derives the English word from the Latin only, comparing French intolérable, recorded from the 13th century,^[8] and Etymonline also gives only the Latin.^[6] The Anglo-Norman intollerable is recorded from 1389.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Unbearable: Barnhart dates intollerable to 1392.^[3] The MED's earliest quotations, from the early 15th century, speak of fear and of a stinking smell that cannot be endured,^[2] and the OED's first quotation for the physical sense is from 1435, in Misyn's translation of Rolle's Fire of Love.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word was used first of physical suffering; from the early 16th century it was also used of what is mentally or morally unbearable.^[8] In Middle English it could also mean unforgivable, and irresistible,^[2] a sense the OED records from before 1475 and calls rare.^[8][10] From the mid 16th to the early 18th century it served as a loose intensive, "excessive, extremely great", as in Shakespeare's "this intolerable deal of sack",^[4][8] and as an adverb, "exceedingly".^[8][4] Johnson (1755) gave "insufferable; not to be endured" and "bad beyond sufferance".^[11] Collins now records an informal sense, extremely irritating.^[12]

Timeline

• 1392 – unbearable.^[3] The OED's first quotation, for physical pain or hardship, is from 1435.^[8]
• before 1475 – irresistible (rare).^[8]
• before 1513 – mentally or morally unbearable.^[8]
• 1544 – excessive, extreme, as a loose intensive (obsolete after 1725).^[8]
• c. 1593 – adverb, intolerably, exceedingly (obsolete after 1716).^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Too painful, bad or difficult to be endured; unbearable or insufferable: The noise from the building site was intolerable.^{[10][12][8][4]}
2. (informal) Extremely irritating or annoying.^[12]
3. (archaic) Not to be withstood; irresistible.^[10][8][2]
4. (obsolete, 1544–1725) Excessive, extremely great, as a mere intensive.^[8][4]

Adverb

1. (obsolete, 1593–1716) Intolerably; exceedingly.^[8][4]

Word family

• intolerability
• intolerably
• intolerableness

Related words

• tolerable
• tolerate
• intolerant
• tolerance
• extol

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins