Insupportableness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state or quality of being so harsh, painful or difficult that it cannot be endured or tolerated
2. The condition of something that is beyond what a person can bear, suffer or put up with
3. Being intolerable to the point that one cannot continue to put up with it at all

Etymology: "Insupportableness" is a plain English compound, built from "insupportable" plus the suffix "-ness," which attaches to adjectives to form nouns of state or quality. The adjective itself combines the prefix "in-," meaning "not," with "supportable," so the whole word means the quality of being unbearable or impossible to endure. The suffix "-ness" has a long pedigree. It descends from an Old English noun "-nes," which in turn traces back through Proto-Germanic to forms that were already used to turn adjectives into abstract nouns. English has used it productively for over a thousand years, so it can be attached to almost any adjective, including long, formal ones like this. The "in-" prefix follows the same pattern as in "insupportable" and related words such as "intolerable," where it carries the sense of "not." Because "insupportable" is itself a formal adjective, the noun built from it is rare and mostly appears in formal or literary writing.

Synonyms: intolerableness, unbearableness

Antonyms: supportableness