Nearby Words

Patience

[pey-shuhns] Example Sentences Origin

pa·tience

[pey-shuhns]
noun
1.
the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
2.
an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay: to have patience with a slow learner.
3.
quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence: to work with patience.
4.
Cards (chiefly British). solitaire (def. 1).
5.
Also called patience dock. a European dock, Rumex patientia, of the buckwheat family, whose leaves are often used as a vegetable.
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6.
Obsolete. leave; permission; sufference.
COLLAPSE

Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English pacience < Old French < Latin patientia. See patient, -ence

su·per·pa·tience, noun


1. composure, stability, self-possession; submissiveness, sufferance. Patience, endurance, fortitude, stoicism imply qualities of calmness, stability, and persistent courage in trying circumstances. Patience may denote calm, self-possessed, and unrepining bearing of pain, misfortune, annoyance, or delay; or painstaking and untiring industry or (less often) application in the doing of somehing: to bear afflictions with patience. Endurance denotes the ability to bear exertion, hardship, or suffering (without implication of moral qualities required or shown): Running in a marathon requires great endurance. Fortitude implies not only patience but courage and strength of character in the midst of pain, affliction, or hardship: to show fortitude in adversity. Stoicism is calm fortitude, with such repression of emotion as to seem almost like indifference to pleasure or pain: The American Indians were noted for stoicism under torture. 3. indefatigability, persistence, assiduity.

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Patience is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
Example Sentences
  • Sometimes patience is rewarded.
  • Testing my patience now.
  • I've become a more attentive listener and have acquired patience.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

Pa·tience

[pey-shuhns]
noun
a female given name.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
patience (ˈpeɪʃəns)
 
n
1.  tolerant and even-tempered perseverance
2.  the capacity for calmly enduring pain, trying situations, etc
3.  chiefly (Brit) US equivalent: solitaire any of various card games for one player only, in which the cards may be laid out in various combinations as the player tries to use up the whole pack
4.  obsolete permission; sufferance
 
[C13: via Old French from Latin patientia endurance, from patī to suffer]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

patience
early 13c., "quality of being patient in suffering," from O.Fr. pacience, from L. patientia "patience, endurance," from patientem (nom. patiens), prp. of pati "to suffer, endure," from PIE base *pei- "to damage, injure, hurt" (see passion).
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"Patience n. A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue." [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]
Meaning "constancy in effort" is attested from 1510s. Meaning "card game for one person" is from 1816.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

patience

see try one's patience.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

patience

family of card games played by one person. Solitaire was originally called (in various spellings) either patience, as it still is in England, Poland, and Germany, or cabale, as it still is in Scandinavian countries.

Learn more about patience with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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