tolerate English · revision 16178

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1531, Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour|origins=la tolerō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈtɒl.ə.ɹeɪt/ ''(UK)''; /ˈtɑ.lə.ɹeɪt/, /ˈtɒl.ə.ɹeɪt/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is from [[la|tolerātus]], the past participle of [[m|la|tolerō|t=to bear, endure]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(SOED 2002)^(Ayto 2005) related to [[m|la|tollō|t=to lift up, raise]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966)^(Weekley 1921) from [[ine-pro|*telh₂-|t=to lift, bear]].^(AHD 2024)^(Ayto 2005) The OED treats it as [[bor|fr|tolérer]] with the English suffix ''[[-ate]]'',^(OED 2026) and Barnhart as a back-formation from ''[[toleration]]'' or a formation on the model of ''[[tolerable]]'' and ''[[tolerance]]''.^(Barnhart 1988) Cognates include [[grc|τλῆναι|tr=tlênai|t=to endure]] and [[ang|þolian|t=to endure]].^(Klein 1966)^(MWU 2024)^(Skeat 1911)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To endure or bear pain or hardship: 1531, in Sir Thomas Elyot's ''Boke Named the Governour''.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The first sense, to endure hardship, faded by 1616.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) From 1533 the word was used of authorities that allowed something to exist without interfering,^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) and of not interfering with others' opinions or practices.^(Etymonline) From 1646 it meant to put up with something one dislikes, or to accept differing opinions without condemning them.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Medicine took up the old sense of enduring again in 1895, of a body coping with a drug or poison.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1517–18 – ''toleration'', permission granted by authority.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1531 – to endure pain or hardship.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1533 – to allow without interference.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1646 – to put up with; to accept.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+ * 1895 – to endure a drug without harm.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To allow something one dislikes or disagrees with to exist or happen without interfering.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To put up with or [[endure]] something or someone.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(medicine)'' To be able to take a [[drug]] or treatment without bad effects.^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tolerative]]

+ * [[tolerator]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tolerable]]

+ * [[tolerance]]

+ * [[tolerant]]

+ * [[toleration]]

+ * [[extol]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In East Anglian dialect ''tolerate'' meant, curiously, to domineer or tyrannize.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}