intolerability

The intolerability of the noise made it impossible to concentrate.

Definition

Noun: The quality or state of being unable to be tolerated; the condition of being unbearable or excessively difficult to endure.

Usage Examples

• (The unbearable quality of the high temperature.)
• (The unbearable nature of being watched all the time.)

Advanced Usage

• "the intolerability of something": used to emphasize that a situation, condition, or behavior is beyond what can be accepted or borne.
  • The intolerability of the injustice sparked widespread protests. (The injustice was so severe it could not be endured.)
• "moral intolerability": refers to actions or conditions that are ethically unacceptable.
  • The moral intolerability of slavery led to its abolition. (Slavery was considered ethically unbearable.)

Variants and Related Words

• Intolerable (adj): impossible to tolerate or endure.
  • The noise was intolerable. (The noise could not be endured.)
• Intolerably (adv): in a manner that is impossible to tolerate.
  • The pain was intolerably sharp. (The pain was unbearably intense.)
• Intolerance (n): unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one's own.
  • Religious intolerance can lead to conflict. (Unwillingness to accept different faiths.)

Synonyms

• Unbearableness: the quality of being too painful or unpleasant to endure.
• Unendurability: the state of being impossible to bear.
• Insufferability: the quality of being extremely unpleasant or annoying.

Related Idioms

• "beyond endurance": so difficult or painful that one cannot continue to tolerate it.
  • The wait was beyond endurance. (The waiting was intolerable.)
• "the last straw": the final problem in a series that makes a situation unbearable.
  • His rude comment was the last straw. (That comment made the situation intolerable.)