Meaning & use
tolerance level
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The amount of something unpleasant, such as pain, noise or bad behavior, that a person can put up with before reacting.
Grammar: Often followed by for: a low tolerance level for noise.
Patterns
- a tolerance level for something
- reach your tolerance level
My tolerance level for loud music is very low.
Different children have different tolerance levels for frustration.
He reached his tolerance level after the third interruption.
nouncountabletechnical
The amount of a substance, such as a drug or chemical, that a body or the environment can take without harm.
Grammar: Often technical and followed by for: a safe tolerance level for lead.
Patterns
- a tolerance level for something
- exceed the tolerance level
Regular use can raise your tolerance level for caffeine.
Inspectors checked whether pollution exceeded the tolerance level for the river.
The plant has a high tolerance level for salt.
Word forms
| plural | tolerance levels |
|---|
Common combinations
- a high tolerance level
- Nurses need a high tolerance level for stress.
- a low tolerance level
- She has a low tolerance level for noisy classrooms.
- exceed the tolerance level
- The chemical exceeded the safe tolerance level.
- raise the tolerance level
- Slow exposure can raise your tolerance level.
- pain tolerance level
- Her pain tolerance level is surprisingly high.
Synonyms and how they differ
- threshold
- A threshold is the exact point where a reaction begins, while tolerance level is the general amount you can endure.
- limit
- Limit is shorter and can be external, while tolerance level relates to what a person or body can bear.
- patience
- Patience describes calm waiting, and it is not measured in levels as in science.
- endurance
- Endurance means the power to keep going through hardship, while tolerance level is about how much can be accepted.
Word family
- tolerance noun
- the ability to accept something
- tolerate verb
- to accept without complaining
- tolerant adjective
- accepting of different views or behavior
- intolerance noun
- unwillingness or inability to accept
Commonly confused: tolerance level or tolerance?
tolerance level vs tolerance
Tolerance alone is the ability itself, while tolerance level is the point or amount you can bear.
Practice
After years of working near the machines, his ______ for loud noise had become very high.
Choose one answer.
Tolerance level is the fixed noun phrase meaning how much one can put up with. The other forms are not normal in this phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tolerance level”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.