List of 426 Sets of Synonyms - How they Differ - Total of 2307 Words - 34

SYNONYMS: bear, endure, stand, abide, suffer, tolerate.
These verbs are compared in the sense of withstanding or sustaining what is difficult or painful to undergo.

Bear pertains broadly to capacity to withstand: Man performs, engenders, so much more than he can or should have to bear. That's how he can bear anything.
Endure specifies a continuing capacity to face pain or hardship: Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed.
Stand implies resoluteness of spirit: The pain was too intense to stand. Actors who can't stand criticism shouldn't perform in public.
Abide and the more emphatic suffer suggest resignation and forbearance: She couldn't abide fools. He suffered their insults in silence.
Tolerate, i n its principal application to something other than pain, connotes reluctant acceptance despite reservations: Some acts of government should be not only tolerated, but encouraged.