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Glite Dictionary
on sufferance

on sufferance

1 9.9
A person who stays only because someone else lets them, not by right
  • idiom
  • Archaic
translation icon : por tolerancia
  • I'm only here on sufferance, and even in my day it wasn't the done thing to insult the prejudices of one's host.
  • on sufferance here
  • only on sufferance

Examples

  • She loved the maternal eye of the Oval, where all the children were partly owned by all the watchful mothers, not knowing she played in the park on sufferance, or that her summer was almost over.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The same sentence that gives us "two hundred feet above sea level" also has Marlow speaking about how "we are only on sufferance here and have to pick our way in cross lights."

    Academic text (2000)

  • You see me on sufferance.

    Notes on a Scandal (2006)

  • As it was, she was only here on sufferance.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • We are here on sufferance.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The Federal Government exists on sufferance only.

    Blog text (17)

  • You're only here on sufferance.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • They were committed to their exclusive state with with a minority living on sufferance or at worst expelled.

  • The Protestants were admitted on sufferance and even allowed private places of worship, provided the public peace was not disturbed by their presence.

    Academic text (1999)

  • She was allowed to stay at the old house only on sufferance, as her relatives were not too keen on her presence.

Antonyms

entitled
1 4.4

Has the right by law or rules to receive something

authorized
1 3.6

Having official permission to do something

How Permitted

to welcome
233 1.0
permissible
37 4.1
on sufferance
  • Archaic
1 9.9
forbidden
96 3.2

Surface Forms

on sufferance positive

Morphology

on + sufferance

The noun 'sufferance' historically means 'toleration' or 'permission', so 'on sufferance' can be compositionally read as 'by toleration' and thus its basic sense (allowed to remain grudgingly) relates to the constituents. However, 'sufferance' is rare and formal/archaic and the phrase is not a productive, transparent construction for B1 learners, so the meaning is only partly predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

On sufferance comes from an old use of the verb suffer, meaning 'to allow' or 'to put up with', so it gives the picture of someone staying only because others tolerate them. That's why on sufferance means 'allowed to remain only because someone else lets you, not because you have the right'.