The biologist treats the fossil record with appropriate caution. He will entertain a hypothesis only as long as the bones tolerate it, and he abandons promising stories the moment new evidence fails to support them.
As used in the text, what does the word "tolerate" most nearly mean?
- Acheck_circle
permit as compatible
- B
endure without complaint
- C
show clemency to
- D
drink without ill effect
Explanation
A hypothesis is kept only while the fossil evidence is compatible with it — the scientific sense of "tolerate," not the emotional, legal, or physiological senses.