intolerant – English adjective declension

English adjective forms of intolerant

Adjective: intolerant

Comparison Forms

Synthetic

Perifrastic

Comparativemore intolerant
Superlativemost intolerant

Sample Sentences

  • Near-synonym: allergic
  • I am intolerant of lactose, so I can't drink milk
  • I am lactose-intolerant, so I can't drink milk.
  • When our bodies no longer create the enzyme needed to break down lactose, we can become intolerant to it. [2013, Sarah Taylor, Vegetarian to Vegan: Give Up Dairy, Give Up Eggs for Good:]
  • The oak, as is well known, is a slow-growing, dicotyledonous tree of peculiar spreading habit, and very intolerant of shade. [1892, Harry Marshall Ward, The Oak: A Popular Introduction to Forest-botany:]
  • The powers of human bodies being limited and intolerant of excesses. [1751, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Effects of Air on Human Bodies:]
  • Whilſt Congregationaliſts in England were complaining of the intolerant ſpirit of Epiſcopalians there [1769, A collection of original papers relative to the History of the colony of Maſſachusets-bay, Boston, New England: Thomas and John Fleet, page 399:]
  • They ſhewed their intolerant ſpirit by demanding a ſtrict execution of the penal laws againſt Catholics [1778, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2nd edition, volume II, Edinburgh, page 1406:]

Etymology

First attested in the first half of the 18th century; either borrowed from French intolérant (early 17th century) or from its source, Latin intolerāns. By surface analysis, in- + tolerant (itself only attested from the 1780s). See: French Adjectives 'intolérant', Latin Adjectives 'intolerāns'.