impatience
[ im-pey-shuh ns ]
/ ɪmˈpeɪ ʃəns /
noun
lack of patience.
eager desire for relief or change; restlessness.
intolerance of anything that thwarts, delays, or hinders.
RELATED CONTENT
What Makes Accents Appealing?What makes certain accents sexy and others harsh? “The RINE in SPINE fawls MINELY on tha PLINE!” In the song “The Rain in Spain” from the musical My Fair Lady, phonetics professor Henry Higgins (‘enry ‘iggins) pleads with Eliza Doolittle to say “Ay not I, O not Ow.” By the end of the song Eliza’s “AY-ing” and “O-ing” and pronouncing all her H’s. The guttersnipe is …
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
impassive, impassivity, impaste, impasto, impatent, impatience, impatiens, impatient, impawn, impeach, impeachable
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for impatience
British Dictionary definitions for impatience
impatience
/ (ɪmˈpeɪʃəns) /
noun
lack of patience; intolerance of or irritability with anything that impedes or delays
restless desire for change and excitement
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for impatience
impatience
c.1200, from Old French impacience (Modern French impatience) and directly from Latin impatientia, from impatiens (see impatient).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper