IMPATIENCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does impatience mean? 

• IMPATIENCE (noun)
  The noun IMPATIENCE has 3 senses:

1. a lack of patience; irritation with anything that causes delay

2. a restless desire for change and excitement

3. a dislike of anything that causes delay

  Familiarity information: IMPATIENCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPATIENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A lack of patience; irritation with anything that causes delay

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

impatience; restlessness

Hypernyms ("impatience" is a kind of...):

annoyance; botheration; irritation; vexation (the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed)

Derivation:

impatient (restless or short-tempered under delay or opposition)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A restless desire for change and excitement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("impatience" is a kind of...):

fidget; fidgetiness; restlessness (a feeling of agitation expressed in continual motion)

Derivation:

impatient ((usually followed by 'to') full of eagerness)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A dislike of anything that causes delay

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("impatience" is a kind of...):

ill nature (a disagreeable, irritable, or malevolent disposition)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impatience"):

intolerance (impatience with annoyances)

Antonym:

patience (good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence)

Derivation:

impatient (restless or short-tempered under delay or opposition)

 Context examples 

Challenger sat down upon the cut stump and groaned his impatience; but Summerlee and I were of one mind that Lord John was our leader when such practical details were in question.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When four weeks had gone by, and Hansel still remained thin, she was seized with impatience and would not wait any longer.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The curiosity and impatience of my master were so great, that he spent many hours of his leisure to instruct me.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

That kind master, who could not sleep now, was waiting with impatience for day.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He had in his hand a heavy cane, with which he was trifling; but he answered never a word, and seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

At length, however, having slipped one arm into her gown, her toilette seemed so nearly finished that the impatience of her curiosity might safely be indulged.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Mrs Croft left them, and Captain Wentworth, having sealed his letter with great rapidity, was indeed ready, and had even a hurried, agitated air, which shewed impatience to be gone.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I couldn't enjoy myself if I neglected them even for you, so there's no need of hurry or impatience.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I waited, in the utmost impatience, until my mother came home from Mrs. Grayper's (for it was that identical neighbour), to ascertain if we could get leave to carry out this great idea.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Several times I had observed that Milverton looked at his watch, and once he had risen and sat down again, with a gesture of impatience.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)