How to Use tolerate in a Sentence

tolerate

verb
  • I can't tolerate that noise.
  • These plants tolerate drought well.
  • How can you tolerate such laziness?
  • I don't like my boss, but I tolerate him.
  • Our teacher will not tolerate bad grammar.
  • Racist or sexist behavior will not be tolerated.
  • The government cannot tolerate lawlessness.
  • That’s low light, and a few plants tolerate it—but none thrive in it.
    Alicia Andrzejewski, Outside Online, 15 Apr. 2022
  • But that’s the kind of thing that Joe Biden and Democrats are tolerating.
    ABC News, 5 May 2024
  • These were tough guys who worked hard and didn’t tolerate fools.
    Terry Pluto, cleveland, 25 Nov. 2021
  • On the other side of the coin, men with a more oily scalp may only be able to tolerate it once a week.
    Cristina Montemayor, Men's Health, 18 Aug. 2023
  • And yet most readers wouldn't tolerate a snail-like pace in a book.
    CBS News, 15 Dec. 2021
  • Young children should not be left alone, and the youngest can’t tolerate masks.
    Liz Szabo, NBC News, 17 May 2022
  • Cyrano cannot tolerate the actor’s butchering of the text and drives him off the stage with his sword.
    Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2024
  • Even people who hate cilantro may be able to learn to at least tolerate it, if not like it.
    Terry Ward, CNN, 19 Oct. 2022
  • The trait has been found to help cattle tolerate hot weather.
    WIRED, 17 Oct. 2023
  • In such a scenario, the party would have to tolerate the loss of some of its traditional seats in the south.
    New York Times, 7 June 2022
  • These breeds have a tendency to hunt, chase, and herd, which some cats might find hard to tolerate.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 20 Mar. 2025
  • The video brought down the wrath of fans and professional athletes on Mayfield, and the Browns weren’t about to tolerate it.
    cleveland, 9 Nov. 2021
  • That’s stress on older trees — or on any tree, but older ones can’t tolerate it the way younger trees can.
    Washington Post, 25 Nov. 2021
  • How much fog, rain or solar glare can a drone tolerate?
    Steve Nadis, Quanta Magazine, 16 Jan. 2024
  • Steve Lacy will not tolerate having things thrown at him on stage.
    Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 25 Oct. 2022
  • This is not someone whom the Kim Wexler at the start of the series would tolerate, let alone recognize.
    Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 12 July 2022
  • That’s good news for those who do not tolerate caffeine well.
    Bryant Stamford, The Courier-Journal, 23 Sep. 2021
  • If your body tolerates the product well, increase the usage to one to two times per week.
    Tatiana Velasco, Good Housekeeping, 27 July 2023
  • Make sure the pot has drainage holes, too, because amaryllis will not tolerate wet feet.
    Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 15 Oct. 2021
  • Most sharks can only tolerate saltwater, but this one is at home in rivers as well as the ocean.
    Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 21 Feb. 2024
  • When prices are known upfront, no consumer will tolerate paying 10 times more than the patient in the bed next to them for the same care.
    Cynthia A. Fisher, Fortune, 6 Dec. 2022
  • Standing on the launchpad, parts of the rocket can tolerate sustained winds up to 74 knots.
    WIRED, 16 Nov. 2022
  • Bottom line: Wall Street has long been able to tolerate Musk because Tesla was a cutting-edge company with a product lots of people wanted to buy.
    Allison Morrow, CNN, 19 Mar. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tolerate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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