TOLERABLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tolerable mean? 

• TOLERABLE (adjective)
  The adjective TOLERABLE has 2 senses:

1. capable of being borne or endured

2. about average; acceptable

  Familiarity information: TOLERABLE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TOLERABLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Capable of being borne or endured

Context example:

the climate is at least tolerable

Similar:

bearable; endurable; sufferable; supportable (capable of being borne though unpleasant)

resistant; tolerant (able to tolerate environmental conditions or physiological stress)

Also:

allowable; permissible (that may be permitted especially as according to rule)

Antonym:

intolerable (incapable of being tolerated or endured)

Sense 2

Meaning:

About average; acceptable

Synonyms:

adequate; fair to middling; passable; tolerable

Context example:

more than adequate as a secretary

Similar:

satisfactory (giving satisfaction)

 Context examples 

But still he went on measuring, and still he ended with, I think there will be very tolerable room for ten couple.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Not a tolerable woman's part in the play.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The Dashwoods were now settled at Barton with tolerable comfort to themselves.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

It was evident how little the women were used to the sight of anything tolerable, by the effect which a man of decent appearance produced.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

In about ten weeks time, I was able to understand most of his questions; and in three months, could give him some tolerable answers.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I went early, said my uncle, for I had heard that there were to be some tolerable débutantes.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In normal cases one can place a man in his true decade with tolerable confidence.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I am a wretched being, cut off from everything that makes life tolerable.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Nine years is a tolerable time.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Elizabeth's mind was now relieved from a very heavy weight; and, after half an hour's quiet reflection in her own room, she was able to join the others with tolerable composure.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)