different between intolerable vs melancholy

English

Alternative forms

• untolerable (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle French intolerable, from Latin intoler?bilis. Synchronically, in- +? tolerable.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?t?l???bl?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?t?l???bl?/
• Hyphenation: in?tol?er?able

Adjective

intolerable (comparative more intolerable, superlative most intolerable)

1. not tolerable; not capable of being borne or endured

   Synonyms: insufferable, insupportable, unbearable

2. extremely offensive or insulting.
   • 1971, William S. Burroughs, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead, page 4

     It is an intolerable sound that sets spoons tinkling in saucers and windowpanes vibrating.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "intolerable" is often applied: cruelty, burden, situation, condition, pain, heat, position, life, state, suffering, evil, risk, insult, hardship, agony, behavior, affront, insolence, stress, consequence, people.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• intolerable in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• intolerable in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin intoler?bilis. Synchronically, in- +? tolerable.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /in.to.l???a.bl?/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /in.tu.l???a.bl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /in.to.le??a.ble/

Adjective

intolerable (masculine and feminine plural intolerables)

1. intolerable

   Synonym: insuportable

   Antonym: tolerable

Derived terms

• intolerablement

Related terms

• intolerabilitat

Further reading

• “intolerable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “intolerable” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “intolerable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “intolerable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin intoler?bilis. Synchronically, in- +? tolerable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /intole??able/, [?n?.t?o.le??a.??le]

Adjective

intolerable (plural intolerables)

1. intolerable

   Synonym: insoportable

   Antonym: tolerable

Related terms

• intolerabilidad

Further reading

• “intolerable” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

English

Alternative forms

• melancholly, melancholie, melancholious (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English malencolie, from Old French melancolie, from Ancient Greek ?????????? (melankholía, “atrabiliousness”), from ????? (mélas), ?????- (melan-, “black, dark, murky”) + ???? (khol?, “bile”). Compare the Latin ?tra b?lis (“black bile”). The adjectival use is a Middle English innovation, perhaps influenced by the suffixes -y, -ly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?mel?nk?li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?m?l.?n?k?l.i/

Noun

melancholy (countable and uncountable, plural melancholies)

1. (historical) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
   • , Bk.I, New York 2001, p.148:

     Melancholy, cold and dry, thick, black, and sour, […] is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones.

2. Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, V. i. 34:

     My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act IV, Scene 1,^[1]

     I have neither the scholar’s melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician’s, which is fantastical; nor the courtier’s, which is proud; nor the soldier’s, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer’s, which is politic; nor the lady’s, which is nice; nor the lover’s, which is all these; but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and, indeed, the sundry contemplation of my travels; in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.

Translations

Adjective

melancholy (comparative more melancholy, superlative most melancholy)

1. (literary) Affected with great sadness or depression.

Synonyms

• (thoughtful sadness): melancholic
• See also Thesaurus:sad

Translations

Related terms

• melancholic
• sadness
• melancholia