Standard Lemma guide

tolerably

adv · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈtɑləɹəbli/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtɒləɹəbli/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In a tolerable manner; to an extent that can be tolerated.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • I don't like the music, but it's tolerably quiet.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adv

Meaning 2

Reasonably; acceptably; somewhat.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adverb

Meaning 3

in an acceptable (but not outstanding) manner

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • she plays tennis tolerably

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: acceptably, so-so

Antonyms: intolerably

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English tolerable Middle English -ly English -ly English tolerably From tolerable + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: поносимо (ponosimo) — in a tolerable manner
  • Bulgarian: приемливо (priemlivo) — in a tolerable manner
  • Esperanto: tolereble — in a tolerable manner
  • Finnish: siedettävästi — in a tolerable manner
  • French: tolérablement — in a tolerable manner
  • Portuguese: toleravelmente — in a tolerable manner