Sufferance

//ˈsʌf(ə)ɹəns// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Endurance, especially patiently, of pain or adversity. archaic, countable, uncountable

    "At length when as he ſaw her haſtie heat / Abate, and panting breath begin to fayle, / He through long ſufferãce growing now more great, / Roſe in his strength, and gan her freſh aſſayle, [...]"

  2. 2
    a disposition to tolerate or accept people or situations wordnet
  3. 3
    Acquiescence or tacit compliance with some circumstance, behavior, or instruction. countable, uncountable

    "[M]oſt wretched man, / That to affections does the bridle lend; / In their beginning they are weake and wan, / But ſoone through ſuff'rance growe to fearefull end; [...]"

  4. 4
    patient endurance especially of pain or distress wordnet
  5. 5
    Suffering; pain, misery. archaic, countable, uncountable

    "The sufferances which simply touch us in minde, doe much lesse afflict me, then most men [...]."

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  1. 6
    Loss; damage; injury. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "The deſperate Tempeſt has ſo bang'd the Turke, / That their deſignement halts; Another ſhippe of Venice hath ſeene / A greeuous wracke and ſufferance / On moſt part of the Fleete."

  2. 7
    A permission granted by the customs authorities for the shipment of goods. British, countable, historical, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
forbearancetolerationacceptanceacceptanceacquiesceacquiescence

Example

More examples

"I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

Etymology

From Middle English sufferaunce, from Anglo-Norman suffraunce, from Late Latin sufferentia. By surface analysis, suffer + -ance.

Related phrases

long-sufferanceon sufferanceon sufferance

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