patience

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“
I shouted, rising in haste from my chair, for my patience was all gone and the woman was driving me crazy with her story of a twisted toe and what neighbour Gumesinda said.

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Definitions (17)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun The capacity, quality, or fact of being patient.
  2. noun Chiefly British The game solitaire.
  3. Syntax Note
    Synonyms: patience, long-suffering, resignation, forbearance
    These nouns denote the capacity to endure hardship, difficulty, or inconvenience without complaint. Patience emphasizes calmness, self-control, and the willingness or ability to tolerate delay: Our patience will achieve more than our force (Edmund Burke).
    Long-suffering is long and patient endurance, as of wrong or provocation: The general, a man not known for docility and long-suffering, flew into a rage.
    Resignation implies acceptance of or submission to something trying, as out of despair or necessity: I undertook the job with an air of resignation.
    Forbearance denotes restraint, as in retaliating, demanding what is due, or voicing disapproval: "It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other” (Patrick Henry).

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Examples (50)

  • Meanwhile they would wait for better days, and their patience was aided by the general prosperity of the country. —  History of the English People, Volume V (of 8) Puritan England, 1603-1660
  • But after rumaging about among the boxes kept in the lobby, his patience was at length rewarded. —  Wilton School or, Harry Campbell's Revenge
  • When their patience was almost exhausted, the boat returned, but instead of provisions, brought the unpleasing information, that the lieutenant, one Kennedy, had run off with both the ships The misfortune and misery of Roberts were greatly aggravated by reflecting upon his own imprudence and want of foresight, as well as from the baseness of Kennedy and his crew. —  The Pirates Own Book
  • "I have been patient with you because I sympathized with your disappointment regarding Alice--but my patience is at an end. —  The Lever A Novel
  • I shouted, rising in haste from my chair, for my patience was all gone and the woman was driving me crazy with her story of a twisted toe and what neighbour Gumesinda said. —  The Purple Land
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

courage ·  endurance ·  generosity ·  tact ·  honesty ·  dignity ·  compassion ·  determination ·  zeal ·  courtesy ·  intelligence ·  resignation
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English pacience, paciens, from Old French pacience, patience, French patience = Spanish Portuguese paciencia = Italian pazienzia, pazienza, from Latin patientia, the quality of suffering or enduring, patience, forbearance, indulgence, submissiveness, from patien (t-) s, suffering, enduring, patient: see patient.
 

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/ˈpeɪʃəns/
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