tolerance

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtɒl.ə.ɹəns/ (UK); /ˈtɑ.lə.ɹəns/, /ˈtɒl.ə.ɹəns/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tolleraunce, borrowed from Middle French tolérance and directly from Latin tolerantia, endurance,^[2][3] from tolerāns, present participle of tolerāre, to bear, endure (see tolerate).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Endurance, fortitude, the power to bear pain or hardship: before 1420, in Lydgate's Troy Book; 1412–20 in the OED; this sense is now obsolete.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Licence or permission granted by an authority is from 1539 and obsolete.^[5] The disposition to be patient with the opinions or practices of others, tolerating, is by 1765.^[3][2][5] The Century Dictionary (1891) distinguished tolerance, the spirit, from toleration, the conduct.^[3] The allowable amount of variation is from 1868, originally of weights in minting,^[3][2] and of the size of machine parts from 1909.^[2] The physiological sense, the ability to take large doses of a poison or drug, is from 1875.^[3][5] In forestry and biology, the capacity to endure shade or other conditions is from 1898,^[5] and in immunology the acceptance of an antigen without reaction from 1951.^[5]

Timeline

• 1412–20 – endurance.^[5]
• 1539 – permission.^[5]
• 1765 – forbearance.^[2]
• 1868 – allowable variation.^[3]
• 1875 – resistance to a drug.^[5]
• 1951 – immunological tolerance.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The willingness to recognize and respect beliefs or practices that differ from one's own.
2. The capacity to endure pain or hardship.
3. The permitted variation from a standard measurement.
4. (physiology) The reduced response of the body to a drug or poison after repeated use.

Word family

• nontolerance

Related words

• intolerance
• tolerable
• tolerant
• tolerate
• toleration

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press