0
Mr. Tom Posted 7 years ago
Vocabulary

Insufferable and Insupportable

Hi

I have come across insufferable many times in books, films, etc--but I don't remember seeing insupportable anywhere except for in the famous feature of the Reader's Digest, It pays to enrich your word power. Google N-Grams say that both of them are not common and enjoy the same amount of use. Could you please give your take?

Insufferable behavior

Insupportable behavior

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=insupportable%2Cinsufferable%2C&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cinsupportable%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cinsufferable%3B%2Cc0

Thanks,

Tom

  

Top answer

I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Google, if all we are talking about is the occurrence of the two things spelled that way. But I would say that "insupportable" is fairly rare in the sense "unendurable".

— Anonymous

  • I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Google, if all we are talking about is the occurrence of the two things spelled that way.
  • But I would say that "insupportable" is fairly rare in the sense "unendurable".
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

2 Answers
0

I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Google, if all we are talking about is the occurrence of the two things spelled that way. But I would say that "insupportable" is fairly rare in the sense "unendurable".

0
0
Mr. TomGoogle N-Grams says that both neither of them are not common

That conforms with my experience, though I do like to use the description 'insufferable' from time to time.

CJ

0

Related Questions