Toleraunce

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The willingness to accept opinions, practices or people that differ from one's own ; the body's ability to withstand a drug or toxin without strong reaction ; the allowed range of deviation from a specified measurement
2. Patient acceptance of views and conduct one may not share ; resistance of an organism to the effects of a substance over repeated exposure ; the permissible margin of error in a manufactured part's size
3. Forbearance toward beliefs unlike one's own ; the capacity to endure a dose of a drug without harm ; the permitted variation from a set dimension in engineering

Etymology: "Toleraunce" is an older spelling of "tolerance," common in Middle English and early modern writing. It comes from Latin "tolerantia," from "tolerare," meaning to bear, endure, or sustain. The earliest English sense was physical: enduring pain, hardship, or a heavy load. The idea of putting up with other people's opinions or behaviour came later. The "au" spelling probably reflects Anglo-Norman French, whose scribes often wrote "au" where Parisian French had "a" or "e," so the spelling likely arrived with the French form of the word. Once English spelling was standardised, the "au" was dropped, and the modern form took over. Later senses, such as a body's ability to withstand a drug and the permitted variation in a manufactured measurement, grew from the same root idea of bearing something.

Synonyms: tolerance, forbearance, endurance

Antonyms: intolerance