# tolerance

Pronunciation: US say "TAH-luh-ruhns" /ˈtɑ.lə.ɹəns/; say "TOL-uh-ruhns" UK /ˈtɒl.ə.ɹəns/, AUS /ˈtɔl.ə.ɹəns/

## Noun

1. Acceptance of or patience with the beliefs, opinions, or practices of others; a lack of bigotry.
   - Simple: A willingness to accept beliefs and ways of life that are different from your own.
   - _The community prided itself on its tolerance toward newcomers of every faith._
   - _Genuine tolerance means listening to views you strongly disagree with._
2. The ability of the body to resist a poison, cope with a dangerous drug, or survive infection by an organism.
   - Simple: The body's power to resist a poison, drug, or infection without being badly harmed.
   - _Repeated use of the painkiller increased her tolerance, so larger doses were needed._
   - _Native populations often show a higher tolerance for local diseases._
3. How far something varies or is allowed to vary from a standard, especially the greatest permissible difference from a specified measurement in engineering.
   - Simple: The amount a measurement is allowed to differ from an exact target size.
   - _Engineers specified a tolerance of plus or minus two microns for the bearing._
   - _Looser tolerances kept production costs down without hurting performance._
4. In medicine, the body's capacity to receive grafted or transplanted tissue without its immune system rejecting it.
   - Simple: The body's ability to accept new tissue from a donor without fighting it off.
   - _Achieving immune tolerance remains the central goal of transplant medicine._
   - _The patient's tolerance to the donor heart let doctors lower her medication._

## Verb

5. To design or engineer a material or component to meet a specified allowable variation.
   - Simple: To make or design a material so it stays within an allowed range of size or variation.
   - _Machinists tolerance the bore to within a few microns of the design spec._
   - _Designers must tolerance critical surfaces carefully to ensure proper assembly._

## Noun

6. The capacity to endure pain or hardship; physical or mental endurance. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The strength to bear pain or hard times without giving up.

## Origin

This word came into English through Middle French tolerance, from Latin tolerantia ("endurance"), which comes from tolerans, the present participle of the Latin verb tolerō ("to endure").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/tolerance (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).