Synonyms for forbearance
Most common
patience toleration tolerance endurance abstinence avoidance
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Patience
patience, toleration, tolerance, endurance, mercy, leniency, long-suffering, mildness, sufferance, pardon, resignation, lenience, lenity, gentleness, clemency, tenderness, longanimity dated
2. Abstinence
Other
Definitions
- n. 1
The action of forbearing (“abstaining or refraining from doing something”); (countable) an instance of this.
- n. 2
The action of forbearing (“abstaining or refraining from doing something”); (countable) an instance of this. The action of refraining from enforcing something which is due (such as a debt or obligation) or a right which one has; (countable) an instance of this.
Related words
- Word family
- forbear forgiveness
Forms
- Plural
- forbearances → patiences, tolerations, tolerances, indulgences…
Choose the right word
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.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- patience A man without patience is like a lamp without oil.
- tolerance There is no such thing as tolerance of intolerance.
- indulgence His parents are tolerant of his self-indulgence.
- toleration There is no question of toleration.
- forbearing Be a little more forbearing!
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| forbearance | rising | |
| patience | rising | |
| tolerance | steady | |
| indulgence | steady | |
| toleration | steady | |
| magnanimity | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- mercy2
- 6 letters
- pardon2, lenity
- 7 letters
- quarter2
- 8 letters
- patience2, clemency3, leniency3, shunning2, mildness, lenience
- 9 letters
- tolerance3, endurance3, avoidance3
- 10 letters
- indulgence3, tenderness3, abstinence3, gentleness3, toleration4, refraining3, sufferance, forbearing
- 11 letters
- resignation4, magnanimity, longanimity
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (mercy2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- longanimité
- Italiano
- longanimità
- Deutsch
- Langmut