Definition of 'tolerance'
Word forms: plural tolerances
1. uncountable noun
2. uncountable noun [noun NOUN]
3. variable noun
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
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Word Frequency
tolerance in British English
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word Frequency
tolerance in American English
noun
1.
a.
a tolerating or being tolerant, esp. of views, beliefs, practices, etc. of others that differ from one's own
2.
an allowable deviation from a standard or from the theoretical ideal, esp. in the manufacture or assembly of components
; specif.,
b.
3.
the ability to endure
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin
ME tolleraunce < MFr tolerance < L tolerantiaWord Frequency
tolerance in American English
(ˈtɑlərəns)
noun
SYNONYMS 1, 2. patience, sufferance, forbearance; liberality, impartiality, open-mindedness. tolerance, toleration agree in allowing the right of something that one does not approve. tolerance suggests a liberal spirit toward the views and actions of others: tolerance toward religious minorities. toleration implies the allowance or sufferance of conduct with which one is not in accord: toleration of graft. 1.
a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry
2.
a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ
from one's own
3.
interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint
5. Medicine & Immunology
a.
the power of enduring or resisting the action of a drug, poison, etc.
a tolerance to antibiotics
b.
the lack of or low levels of immune response to transplanted tissue or other foreign substance that is normally immunogenic
6. Machinery
b.
the permissible variation of an object or objects in some characteristic such as hardness, weight, or quantity
7. Also called: allowance Coinage
a permissible deviation in the fineness and weight of coin, owing to the difficulty of securing exact conformity to the standard prescribed by law
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Word Frequency
tolerance in Mechanical Engineering
(tɒlərəns)
Word forms: (regular plural) tolerances
noun
(Mechanical engineering: Manufacturing and assembly)
A tolerance is the amount of variation that is allowed in a measurement or other characteristic
of an object or workpiece.
The thermocouple has a tolerance of plus or minus 2.5 degrees at 1000 degrees C.
Because it had to fit neatly into the bearing, the shaft had to be machined to a
tight tolerance.
A tolerance is the amount of variation that is allowed in a measurement or other characteristic
of an object or workpiece.
Collins COBUILD Key Words for Mechanical Engineering. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Examples of 'tolerance' in a sentence
tolerance
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Quotations
Tolerance is only another name for indifference
Tolerance should really be only a temporary attitude; it must lead to recognition
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In other languages
tolerance
British English: tolerance
NOUN /ˈtɒlərəns/
Tolerance is the quality of allowing other people to say and do as they like, even if you do not agree or approve of it.
...his tolerance and understanding of diverse human nature.
- American English: tolerance /ˈtɒlərəns/
- Brazilian Portuguese: tolerância
- Chinese: 宽容
- European Spanish: tolerancia
- French: tolérance
- German: Toleranz
- Italian: tolleranza
- Japanese: 寛大さ
- Korean: 관용
- European Portuguese: tolerância
- Latin American Spanish: tolerancia
- Thai: ความอดกลั้น
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tolerance
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Definition of tolerance from the Collins English Dictionary
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