endurance
Americannoun
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the fact or power of enduring or bearing pain, hardships, etc.
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the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina.
He has amazing physical endurance.
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lasting quality; duration.
His friendships have little endurance.
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something endured, as a hardship; trial.
noun
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the capacity, state, or an instance of enduring
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something endured; a hardship, strain, or privation
Synonym Usage
See patience.
Etymology
Origin of endurance
Explanation
Endurance is the power to withstand something challenging. If you decide to run a marathon, you will need lots of endurance to run over 26 miles. The noun endurance contains endure, which means "to suffer or undergo" and the suffix -ance means "the state of." It can be used to describe the physical strength to keep going, as in a marathon or giving birth, but it can also be used when discussing an exhausting mental situation or stressful time — the endurance to bounce back from heartbreak, perhaps.
Vocabulary lists containing endurance
Vocabulary of the Summer Olympics
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Excerpt from "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And the complexity of the Harry and Meghan story is requiring endurance on all sides.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Aerobic fitness and muscular endurance generally reached their highest levels between ages 26 and 36, with physical performance beginning to decline around the mid-30s.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
But Ward has been asked to verify his disability further, with one council worker suggesting amputees can run marathons - a level of physical endurance he insists he does not have.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
Scott Christensen, lead endurance instructor for USA Track & Field, says while he appreciates the potential performance-enhancing qualities of bouncy foam and carbon springboards, “everything has a cost-benefit ratio to it.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
The rest of this story is nothing but grief, ache and endurance.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
