Definition of: patience

(pā′shəns) noun
1. The quality or habit of enduring without complaint.
2. The exercise of sustained endurance and perseverance.
3. Forbearance toward the faults or infirmities of others.
4. Tranquil waiting or expectation.
5. Ability to await events without perturbation.
6. Any solitaire card game.
7. Obs. Permission or sufferance. [<OF pacience <L patientia <patiens. See PATIENT.] Synonyms: calmness, composure, endurance, forbearance, fortitude, leniency, long–suffering, resignation, submission, sufferance. Endurance hardens itself against suffering, and may be merely stubborn; by modifiers it may be made to have a passive force, as when we speak of “passive endurance”; fortitude is endurance animated by courage; patience is not so hard as endurance nor so self–effacing as submission. Submission is ordinarily and resignation always applied to matters of great moment, while patience may apply to slight worries and annoyances. Patience may also have an active force denoting uncomplaining steadiness in doing, as in tilling the soil. Compare INDUSTRY, SUBMISSION. Antonyms: see synonyms for ANGER, IMPATIENCE.