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long-suffering

[lawng-suhf-er-ing, -suhf-ring, long-]
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adjective
  1. enduring injury, trouble, or provocation long and patiently.
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noun
  1. long and patient endurance of injury, trouble, or provocation: years of long-suffering and illness.
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Origin of long-suffering

First recorded in 1520–30
Related formslong-suf·fer·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for longsuffering

Historical Examples

  • Surely it is not too much for us to be longsuffering toward all.

    The Expositor's Bible: The Epistles to the Thessalonians

    James Denney

  • And your patience and longsuffering, Paul says, must be exercised "with joy."

  • “Jupiter is longsuffering to the benighted,” returned the catechist.

    Fables

    Robert Louis Stevenson

  • Meekness and longsuffering must stand on a basis of humility.

  • Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and patience and longsuffering?

British Dictionary definitions for longsuffering

long-suffering

adjective
  1. enduring pain, unhappiness, etc, without complaint
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noun Also: long-sufferance
  1. long and patient endurance
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Derived Formslong-sufferingly, adverb
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 longsuffering

long-suffering

also longsuffering, 1520s (n.), 1530s (adj.), from long (adj.) + suffering (see suffer). Old English had langmodig in this sense.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper