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Foul vs Insufferable - What's the difference?

foul | insufferable | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between foul and insufferable

is that foul is covered with, or containing unclean matter; polluted; nasty; defiled while insufferable is not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure.

As a verb foul

is to make dirty.

As a noun foul

is a breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; as, for example, foot-tripping in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.

foul

English

(Webster 1913)

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) . More at (l).

Adjective

(er)
  • Covered with, or containing unclean matter; polluted; nasty; defiled
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Unspontaneous combustion , passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.}}
  • obscene or profane; abusive.
  • Hateful; detestable; unpleasant
  • * Milton
    • Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
  • Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul disease.
  • (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares.
  • Not favorable; unpropitious; not fair or advantageous; as, a foul wind; a foul road; cloudy or rainy; stormy; not fair; -- said of the weather, sky, etc.
  • * Shakespeare
    • So foul a sky clears not without a storm.
  • Not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.; unfair; dishonest; dishonorable; cheating.
  • (nautical) Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement; entangled; - opposed to clear; as, a rope or cable may get foul while paying it out.
  • (baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.
    • Usage notes
    * Nouns to which "foul" is often applied: play, ball, language, breath, smell, odor, water, weather, deed.
    Synonyms
    * shameful; odious; wretched
    Derived terms
    * afoul * befoul * fall foul * nonfoul * nonfouling

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make dirty.
    • to foul the face or hands with mire
    She's fouled her diaper.
  • To besmirch.
    • He's fouled his reputation.
  • To clog or obstruct.
    • The hair has fouled the drain.
  • (nautical) To entangle.
    • The kelp has fouled the prop.
  • (basketball) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.
    • Smith fouled him hard.
  • (baseball) To hit outside of the baselines.
    • Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck.
  • To become clogged.
    • ''The drain fouled .
  • To become entangled.
    • The prop fouled on the kelp.
  • (basketball) To commit a foul.
    • Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter.
  • (baseball) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.
    • Jones fouled for strike one.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (sports) A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; as, for example, foot-tripping in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=December 10 , author=Arindam Rej , title=Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=A second Norwich goal in four minutes arrived after some dire Newcastle defending. Gosling gave the ball away with a sloppy back-pass, allowing Crofts to curl in a cross that the unmarked Morison powered in with a firm, 12-yard header.
    Gosling's plight worsened when he was soon shown a red card for a foul on Martin.}}
  • (bowling) A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
  • (baseball) A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.
    • Jones hit a foul up over the screen.

    External links

    * * * ----

    insufferable

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure.
    • {{quote-Fanny Hill, part=3 , kept up by the pain I had endur'd in the course of the engagement, from the insufferable size of his weapon, tho' it was not as yet in above half its length.}}
  • * , Lady Susan , ch. 22:
    • This is insufferable ! My dearest friend, I was never so enraged before,and must relieve myself by writing to you. . . . Guess my astonishment, and vexation.
  • * 1894 , , The Coxon Fund , ch. 4:
    • Saltram was incapable of keeping the engagements which, after their separation, he had entered into with regard to his wife, a deeply wronged, justly resentful, quite irreproachable and insufferable person.
  • * 1913 , , The Custom of the Country , ch. 13:
    • Marvell . . . thought Peter a bore in society and an insufferable nuisance on closer terms.
  • * 2011 June 7, " Chaos in Syria," Time :
    • The oppressive heat has become insufferable in Syria — and as the temperature climbs, emotions get harder to contain.

    Synonyms

    * intolerable, unbearable

    Related terms

    * insufferableness * insufferably

    References

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