Forbearance

//fɔːˈbɛː.ɹən(t)s// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Patient self-control; restraint and tolerance under provocation. countable, uncountable

    "Though I would give no information, he discovered, through some of the other servants, both her place of residence, and the existence of the child. Still he didn’t molest her; for which forbearance she might thank his aversion, I suppose."

  2. 2
    a delay in enforcing rights or claims or privileges; refraining from acting wordnet
  3. 3
    A refraining from the enforcement of something (as a debt, right, or obligation) that is due. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
patienceindulgencepatiencerestraintsufferancetolerance

Example

More examples

"Do not mistake patience for forbearance."

Etymology

From forbear + -ance.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.