Patience, n.
Etymology: [F. patience, fr. L. patientia. See Patient.]
1. The state or quality of being patient; the power of suffering with fortitude; uncomplaining endurance of evils or wrongs, as toil, pain, poverty, insult, oppression, calamity, etc. Strenthened with all might, . . . unto all patience and long- suffering. Col. i. 11. I must have patience to endure the load. Shak. Who hath learned lowliness From his Lord's cradle, patience from his cross. Keble.
2. The act or power of calmly or contentedly waiting for something due or hoped for; forbearance. Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Matt. xviii. 29.
3. Constancy in labor or application; perseverance. He learned with patience, and with meekness taught. Harte.
4. Sufferance; permission. [Obs.] Hooker. They stay upon your patience. Shak.
5 more senses
5. (Bot.)
A kind of dock (Rumex Patientia), less common in America than in Europe; monk's rhubarb.
6. (Card Playing)
Solitaire.
Syn. -- Patience, Resignation. Patience implies the quietness or self- possession of one's own spirit under sufferings, provocations, etc.; resignation implies submission to the will of another. The Stoic may have patience; the Christian should have both patience and resignation.
Shades of meaning
Patience is the quality or habit of mind shown in bearing passively and uncomplainingly any pain, evil, or hardship that may fall to one's lot. Endurance hardens itself against suffering, and may be merely stubborn; fortitude is endurance animated by courage; endurance may by modifiers be made to have a passive force, as when we speak of "passive endurance;" 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. As regards our relations to our fellow men, forbearance is abstaining from retaliation or revenge; patience is keeping kindliness of heart under vexatious conduct; long-suffering is continued patience. Patience may also have an active force denoting uncomplaining steadiness in doing, as in tilling the soil. Compare industry.
Prepositions
Patience in or amid sufferings; patience with (rarely toward) opposers or offenders; patience under afflictions; (rarely) patience of heat or cold, etc.