TOLERANT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tolerant mean? 

• TOLERANT (adjective)
  The adjective TOLERANT has 5 senses:

1. showing respect for the rights or opinions or practices of others

2. tolerant and forgiving under provocation

3. showing or characterized by broad-mindedness

4. able to tolerate environmental conditions or physiological stress

5. showing the capacity for endurance

  Familiarity information: TOLERANT used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TOLERANT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Showing respect for the rights or opinions or practices of others

Similar:

unbigoted (not opinionated)

Also:

charitable (full of love and generosity)

patient (enduring trying circumstances with even temper or characterized by such endurance)

Antonym:

intolerant (unwilling to tolerate difference of opinion)

Derivation:

tolerance (willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others)

tolerate (recognize and respect (rights and beliefs of others))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tolerant and forgiving under provocation

Synonyms:

kind; tolerant

Context example:

our neighbor was very kind about the window our son broke

Similar:

forgiving (inclined or able to forgive and show mercy)

Derivation:

tolerate (put up with something or somebody unpleasant)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Showing or characterized by broad-mindedness

Synonyms:

broad; large-minded; liberal; tolerant

Context example:

tolerant of his opponent's opinions

Similar:

broad-minded (inclined to respect views and beliefs that differ from your own)

Derivation:

tolerate (recognize and respect (rights and beliefs of others))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Able to tolerate environmental conditions or physiological stress

Synonyms:

resistant; tolerant

Context example:

the new hybrid is more resistant to drought

Similar:

tolerable (capable of being borne or endured)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Showing the capacity for endurance

Synonyms:

patient of; tolerant

Context example:

a man patient of distractions

Similar:

patient (enduring trying circumstances with even temper or characterized by such endurance)

Derivation:

tolerate (put up with something or somebody unpleasant)

 Context examples 

Men are more tolerant, bless them!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The mechanisms, functions, activities, or processes exhibited by microorganisms, especially bacteria, to resist or to become tolerant to antibiotics.

(Antibiotic Resistance, NCI Thesaurus)

Importantly, researchers say, several of these new quantum Hall states may be useful in making fault-tolerant quantum computers.

(Research reveals exotic quantum states in double-layer graphene, National Science Foundation)

For T-lymphocytes this occurs in the thymus and ensures that mature T-lymphocytes are self tolerant.

(Clonal Regression, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The presence of human tissue transglutaminase, endomysial and gliadin antibodies without substantial villous changes follow many years of a seemingly gluten-tolerant diet.

(Latent Celiac Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

It is tolerant of saline soils, drought conditions, and secondary soils.

(Morinda citrifolia, NCI Thesaurus)

He leaned back in his chair with drooping eyelids and a tolerant smile, basking in this sudden gleam of sunshine.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The scientists found that 15 (13%) of the 119 children were sesame-allergic, 73 (61%) were sesame-tolerant, and sesame-allergic status could not be determined for 31 (26%) children, mainly because they declined the oral food challenge.

(17% of Food-Allergic Children Have Sesame Allergy, National Institutes of Health)

She nodded her head and smiled, and he felt, somehow, that her smile was tolerant, pitifully tolerant.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The finding points the way for plant breeders to develop trees that are tolerant of the disease.

(New way to identify disease-resistant genes in chocolate-producing trees, National Science Foundation)