insufferable

Meaning

Not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure; intolerable, unbearable.

Opposite of

abideable, bearable, endurable, sufferable, supportable, tolerable

Synonyms

unbearable

intolerable

unendurable

insupportable

unsupportable

unsufferable

unacceptable

excruciating

obnoxious

impossible

intoler-able

deadly

not to be remedied

deathly

dire

domineering

irremediable

maddening

odious

overbearing

overwhelming

provoking

Translations

insupportable

unerträglich

intolérable

inaguantable

intollerabile

çekilmez

intolerable

insopportabile

insoportable

intolerável

unausstehlich

insufrible

ανυπόφορος

αβάσταχτος

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɪnˈsʌfəɹəb(ə)l/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: insufferable

In summary

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.