the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.
to have patience with a slow learner.
quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence.
to work with patience.
Cards (chiefly British). solitaire.
Also called patience dock. a European dock, Rumex patientia, of the buckwheat family, whose leaves are often used as a vegetable.
Obsolete. leave; permission; sufference.
tolerant and even-tempered perseverance
the capacity for calmly enduring pain, trying situations, etc
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
obsolete permission; 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.
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English pacience, from Old French, from Latin patientia. See patient, -ence
Patience is a person's ability to wait something out or endure something tedious, without getting riled up. It takes a lot of patience to wait for your braces to come off, to deal with a toddler's temper tantrum, or to build a house out of toothpicks. Having patience means you can remain calm, even when you've been waiting forever or dealing with something painstakingly slow or trying to teach someone how to do something and they just don't get it. It involves acceptance and tolerance, and is usually easier to have when there's something in it for you at the end. That could be a goal you've been slowly working to achieve, or just lower blood pressure.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On one side is Fort Patience, a reminder of European trade and colonial ambition.
From BBC • May 2, 2026
Patience and trusting the process have been Matsumoto’s two guiding principles.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
Patience here prevents grease pockets and keeps the texture even.
From Salon • Mar. 11, 2026
Patience; communication, organizational and presentation skills; the ability to distill complex ideas; and project-management skills are all qualities and skills that can be valuable in many other professions.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 9, 2026
Natalie was in awe all over again at the way Patience thought about the world.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
Definitions 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.
