tolerance — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The ability to endure pain or hardship; endurance.

   Usage

   • Obsolete
   • Uncountable

2. The ability or practice of tolerating; an acceptance of or patience with the beliefs, opinions or practices of others; a lack of bigotry.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   tolerationforbearance

   Examples

   Near-synonym: forbearance

   More examples (1)

   Both [Ze'ev] Jabotinsky and [David] Ben-Gurion also wrote songs of praise to the Ottoman Empire, its tolerance toward ethnic minorities in general — and to Jews in particular — as well as to the democratic changes it was undergoing.

3. The ability of the body (or other organism) to resist the action of a poison, to cope with a dangerous drug or to survive infection by an organism.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

4. The ability of the body (or other organism) to resist the action of a poison, to cope with a dangerous drug or to survive infection by an organism. Resistance to drunkenness.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Since he hadn't had any alcohol in years, his tolerance was very low, and it only took two drinks for him to get sloshed.

5. The variation or deviation from a standard, especially the maximum permitted variation in an engineering measurement.

   Usage

   • Countable

   Examples

   Our customers can generally accept ten times the tolerance which we can achieve in our machining operations.

6. The ability of the body to accept a tissue graft without rejection.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

Verb

1. To design or engineer a material to a specified tolerance.

Noun

1. the power or capacity of an organism to tolerate unfavorable environmental conditions

   Broader terms

   endurance

2. a disposition to allow freedom of choice and behavior

   Synonyms

   permissiveness

   Broader terms

   dispositiontemperament

3. the act of tolerating something

   Broader terms

   allowance

4. willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others

   Antonyms

   intolerance

   Broader terms

   attitudemental attitude

5. a permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits

   Synonyms

   allowanceleewaymargin

   Broader terms

   discrepancydisagreementdivergencevariance