Tolerable means bearable or acceptable, though not necessarily pleasant or ideal. When something is tolerable, you can put up with it without too much difficulty, even if you'd prefer things to be better.

If the cafeteria serves a lunch that's tolerable, it's not delicious, but it's edible enough that you can eat it without complaining. When someone says the winter cold is tolerable, they mean they can handle it, though they might still wish for warmer weather. A movie might be tolerable: watchable enough to sit through, but nothing you'd recommend to friends.

The word often appears in situations where people are managing something unpleasant. A student might find a long bus ride tolerable if they have a good book. A coach might say that practice in light rain is tolerable, but practice in a thunderstorm is not.

Tolerable sits in the middle ground between unbearable (too awful to handle) and enjoyable (actually pleasant). When you say something is tolerable, you're acknowledging it's not great, but you're managing. The related word tolerate means to allow or endure something you don't particularly like.