unbearable

/ˈʌnˌbɛrəbəl/

/ənˈbɛrəbəl/

When something's unbearable, you just can't take it. Your neighbor's loud music was always annoying, but when the walls shook until your favorite vase fell and broke you knew it had become unbearable.

If you look at the adjective unbearable and strip away the prefix un- and the suffix -able, you have the word bear, meaning "to endure." Now put back those add-ons and you end up with a word that means "not able to endure." In other words, you can't stand it. You thought that your job as a police officer was tough until you volunteered to umpire a little league ballgame — the pressure was unbearable!

Definitions of unbearable

1. adjective

   incapable of being put up with
   synonyms: intolerable, unendurable

   impermissible

   not permitted

   bitter

   very difficult to accept or bear

   impossible, insufferable, unacceptable, unsufferable

   extremely unpleasant or annoying (of persons or their behavior)

   unsupportable

   not able to be supported or defended