on sufferance

Idioms  

1. Barely tolerated; agreed to but unwillingly. For example, They rarely put a non-academic on the panel, so obviously I was there on sufferance. This expression uses sufferance in the sense of “toleration,” a usage obsolete except in this idiom. [Mid-1500s]

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Example Sentences

“The message they are getting is, ‘You are here on sufferance,’” he added.

From New York Times

They do have a certain adherence to the idea that this is the national homeland of Hindus, and everybody else is a second-class citizen, here only on sufferance.

From The New Yorker

The same powerless flock the Church has ruthlessly carved up between those who may fully participate - heterosexual men in traditional marriages - and those who are within the Church on sufferance or under threat of explusion, which includes everyone else.

From New York Times

But the menace of partition is again upon Indians, this time through the intention to impose Hindu nationhood on us and declare all other Indians outsiders who are here on sufferance.

From The Guardian

The Maybot would be allowed to continue on sufferance, primarily because there weren’t any obviously more capable candidates.

From The Guardian