insufferable
/ɪnˈsʌf(ə)rəb(ə)l
/adjective
1Too extreme to bear; intolerable: the heat would be insufferable by July...
- More cars blocking the arterial routes into Leeds have led to an insufferable increase in journey times for some commuters, a new report has found.
- The many hours that Scott had to bear without knowing at all what was happening were insufferable.
- If this level of population growth were to happen in Laois, an insufferable burden will be placed on people living in the county.
Synonyms
intolerable, unbearable, unendurable, insupportable, unacceptable, oppressive, overwhelming, overpowering, impossible, not to be borne, past bearing, too much to bear, more than one can stand, more than flesh and blood can stand, enough to try/test/tax the patience of a saint;
unspeakable, dreadful, excruciating, grim, outrageous
informal too much
1.1Having or showing unbearable arrogance or conceit: an insufferable bully...
- He describes the behavior of these insufferable boors.
- The stone pages of the law have, by definition, become the absolute of literature, thus achieving a dominion over the literary world of which everyday insufferable literary critics can only dream.
- Ivory, once an insufferable middlebrow pedant, has officially become a walking anachronism - and I, for one, am damn grateful.
Synonyms
conceited, arrogant, boastful, cocky, cocksure, full of oneself, above oneself, self-important, immodest, swaggering, strutting;
vain, self-satisfied, self-congratulatory, pleased with oneself, self-loving, in love with oneself, self-admiring, self-regarding, smug, complacent
informal swollen-headed, big-headed, too big for one's boots
literary vainglorious
rare peacockish
Derivatives
insufferableness
- The insufferableness is handled quite competently by the other young performers, whose spoiled, snot-nosed characters give the necessary sting to Dahl's cautionary narrative about the dangers of lazy, indulgent parenting.
- Pop music has no purer form of insufferableness than the I-love-my-child motif.
- And then there was this matter of Jane's illness and the insufferableness of her mother's hints and schemes.
insufferably
/ adverb ...- My insufferably rich and terribly nice friend Leo has this habit of taking social misfits under his wing.
- If it was a London event it would be insufferably trendy.
- That sounds insufferably sarcastic, I'm sure.
Origin
Late Middle English: perhaps via French (now dialect) insouffrable, based on Latin sufferre 'endure' (see suffer).