insufferable - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Late Middle English insufferable (“unbearably painful, intolerable”),[1] and then either:

• from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)[2] + sufferable, souffrable (“bearable, endurable, tolerable; allowable, permissible; able to or willing to bear hardship; forbearing, long-suffering; calm, self-restrained, slow to anger; capable of suffering”) (from Anglo-Norman sufferable, souffrable, and Old French souffrable, suffrable (“sufferable, tolerable”));[3] or
• from Old French insouffrable (“which cannot be endured or suffered; something insufferable or unendurable”) (now dialectal), from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + souffrable, suffrable.[4]

From Old French souffrable, suffrable are derived from Medieval Latin sufferābilis, from Latin sufferre[5] + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’); while sufferre is the present active infinitive of sufferō, subferō (“to bear or carry under; to bear, endure, suffer, undergo”), from sub- (prefix meaning ‘below, under’) + ferō (“to bear, carry; to endure, suffer, tolerate”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”)). The English word is analysable as in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) +‎ sufferable.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ĭn-sŭf'ər-ə-bəl, IPA(key): /ɪnˈsʌfəɹəb(ə)l/, /ɪnˈsʌfɹəb(ə)l/
• Hyphenation: in‧suf‧fer‧a‧ble

insufferable (comparative more insufferable, superlative most insufferable)

1. Not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure; intolerable, unbearable.
   Synonyms: insupportable, unabideable, unendurable, (archaic or obsolete) unsufferable, unsupportable
   Antonyms: abideable, bearable, endurable, sufferable, supportable, tolerable
   • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, W. Bowles, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 76:
     No, his good Meen, his Youth, and blooming Face / Tempt him to think, that vvith a better grace / Himſelf might ſit, and thou ſupply his place. / Behold there yet remains, vvhich muſt be born, / Proud Servants more inſufferable Scorn.
   • 1712 July 23 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “SATURDAY, July 12, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 429; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 120:
     She is sensible that a vain person is the most insufferable creature living in a well-bred assembly.
   • c. 1794, Jane Austen, “[Lady Susan.] XXII. Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson.”, in J[ames] E[dward] Austen[-]Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen: […] to which is Added Lady Susan and Fragments of Two Other Unfinished Tales by Miss Austen, 2nd edition, London: Richard Bentley and Son, […], published 1871, →OCLC, page 249:
     This is insufferable! My dearest friend, I was never so enraged before, and must relieve myself by writing to you, who I know will enter into all my feelings.
   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter V, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 108:
     "She had better have stayed at home," cried Elizabeth; "perhaps she meant well, but, under such a misfortune as this, one cannot see too little of one's neighbours. Assistance is impossible; condolence, insufferable. Let them triumph over us at a distance, and be satisfied."
   • 1827, [John Keble], “The Conversion of St. Paul”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, pages 111–112:
     He heard and saw, and sought to free / His strain'd eye from the sight: / But Heaven's high magic bound it there, / Still gazing, though untaught to bear / Th' insufferable light.
   • 1894, Henry James, “The Coxon Fund. Chapter IV.”, in Terminations […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, published 1895, →OCLC, page 80:
     It was of course familiar to me that Saltram was incapable of keeping the engagements which, after their separation, he had entered into with regard to his wife, a deeply wronged, justly resentful, quite irreproachable and insufferable person.
   • 2011 June 7, “Chaos in Syria: Are Army Deserters Helping to Arm the Opposition?”, in TIME‎[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 September 2011:
     The oppressive heat has become insufferable in Syria – and as the temperature climbs, emotions get harder to contain.
   • 2022 December 31, Anthony Cummins, quoting Nell Zink, “Nell Zink: ‘Guys who like Kafka are insufferable’”, in The Guardian‎[2], archived from the original on 2 April 2023:
     It became clear to me: guys who like Kafka—it’s never women—are insufferable.

• insufferableness

• insufferably

• suffer

• sufferable

• unsufferable (archaic or obsolete)

• Armenian: անտանելի (hy) (antaneli), թշվառ (hy) (tʻšvaṙ) (figuratively)

• Asturian: insoportable

• Azerbaijani: dözülməz

• Bulgarian: непоносим (bg) (neponosim), нетърпим (bg) (netǎrpim)

• Catalan: insuportable, intolerable (ca)

• Chinese:
  Mandarin: 難以忍受的 / 难以忍受的 (nányǐrěnshòu de)

• Czech: nesnesitelný (cs) m

• Dutch: bij de beesten af, bij de konijnen af, onbestaanbaar (nl), onduldbaar (nl), ontoelaatbaar (nl)

• Finnish: sietämätön (fi)

• French: insupportable (fr), haïssable (fr) (chiefly Quebec), intolérable (fr)

• Galician: insufríbel (gl)

• Georgian: აუტანელი (auṭaneli)

• German: unausstehlich (de), unerträglich (de) n, untragbar (de)

• Greek: ανυπόφορος (el) (anypóforos), αβάσταχτος (el) (avástachtos)
  Ancient Greek: ἄλαστος (álastos)

• Hindi: दंभी (hi) (dambhī)

• Hungarian: lehetetlen (hu)

• Icelandic: ólíðandi (of a person)

• Italian: insoffribile (it), insopportabile (it), intollerabile (it)

• Latin: impetibilis, intolerāns

• Lithuanian: abúojas (lt)

• Manx: neuhurransagh

• Polish: nieznośny (pl) m

• Portuguese: insuportável (pt), intolerável (pt)

• Romanian: insuportabil (ro), nerăbdabil, nesuferibil, nesuportabil

• Russian: невыноси́мый (ru) (nevynosímyj)

• Scottish Gaelic: do-ghiùlan

• Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: неподно̀шљив
  Latin: nepodnòšljiv (sh)

• Spanish: insufrible (es), insoportable (es), inaguantable (es), no haber quien lo aguante (verb)

• Swedish: odräglig (sv)

• Thai: เหลืออด (lʉ̌ʉa-òt), เหลือทน (th) (lʉ̌ʉa-ton)

• Ukrainian: несте́рпний (nestérpnyj)

• Vietnamese: bất kham (vi) (rare), bất nhẫn (archaic, rare), không thể chịu đựng được

• Woiwurrung: man-doin-qua-neen

1. ^ “insufferāble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. ^ “in-, pref.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
3. ^ “sufferāble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
4. ^ “insufferable, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2019; “insufferable, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
5. ^ “sufferable, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “sufferable, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• “insufferable”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.