Basic Details
Word: Tolerate
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: To accept or put up with something you do not like, or to be able to bear something such as heat, pain or a medicine without harm.
Synonyms: bear, endure, put up with
Antonyms: forbid, reject
Word origin: From Latin tolerare, to bear or endure.
How to Spell Tolerate
Syllables: tol - er - ate
Tricky part: Students double the l (tollerate) by mixing it with toll, or turn the weak middle vowel into an a (tolarate).
Watch out for: tollerate, tolarate, tolerete
Memory tip: One l, one r, and ate at the end: tol-er-ate. Imagine you tolerate a plate of food you do not like, and you ATE it anyway.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Cacti tolerate weeks of dry weather that would kill most garden plants.
Example 2: Our hostel warden will not tolerate loud music after ten at night.
Example 3: Some people cannot tolerate milk and choose curd or soya milk instead.
Fun Fact
Doctors speak of tolerance when the body gets used to a medicine, so the same dose slowly starts to work less well.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
tollerate
a) l
b) t
c) e
d) r
Show answer
a) l. Unlike toll, this word has a single l, the same as in tolerance.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word tolerate as used in the sentence:
Our principal says she will not tolerate rude remarks in any classroom.
a) allow
b) accept
c) forbid
d) bear
Show answer
c) forbid. Allow, accept and bear are all ways of putting up with something; forbid means refusing to let it happen.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
A camel can toaterle long days in the desert without water.
a) tolerant
b) tolerate
c) literate
d) decorate
Show answer
b) tolerate. Literate would need an i, decorate a c and tolerant an n; this jumble has an o and two e's instead.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A person who can tolerate very spicy food ____.
a) has never tasted it
b) always sends it back
c) refuses to touch it at all
d) can eat it without discomfort
Show answer
d) can eat it without discomfort
2. Plants that tolerate drought ____.
a) need watering twice a day
b) grow only in ponds
c) die every summer
d) survive with very little water
Show answer
d) survive with very little water
