insufferable
/ɪnˈsʌfəɹəb(ə)l/ adjective
- adjective Not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure; intolerable, unbearable.
Synonyms
insupportable unabideable unendurable unsufferable unsupportable impossible unacceptable
Antonyms
abideable bearable endurable sufferable supportable tolerable
Etymology
From Late Middle English insufferable (“unbearably painful, intolerable”), and then either:
* from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + 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”)); or
* from Old French insouffrable (“which cannot be endured or suffered; something insufferable or unendurable”) (now dialectal), from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + souffrable, suffrable.
From Old French souffrable, suffrable are derived from Medieval Latin sufferābilis, from Latin sufferre + -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.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Incapable of being suffered, borne, or endured; insupportable; unendurable; intolerable; as, insufferable heat, cold, or pain; insufferable wrongs. Locke.
- adjective Offensive beyond endurance; detestable.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “insufferable”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details