TOLERANCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tolerance mean? 

• TOLERANCE (noun)
  The noun TOLERANCE has 5 senses:

1. the power or capacity of an organism to tolerate unfavorable environmental conditions

2. a disposition to allow freedom of choice and behavior

3. the act of tolerating something

4. willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others

5. a permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits

  Familiarity information: TOLERANCE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TOLERANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The power or capacity of an organism to tolerate unfavorable environmental conditions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

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

endurance (the power to withstand hardship or stress)

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

capacity (tolerance for alcohol)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A disposition to allow freedom of choice and behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

permissiveness; tolerance

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

disposition; temperament (your usual mood)

Attribute:

permissive (granting or inclined or able to grant permission; not strict in discipline)

unpermissive (not inclined to grant permission; severe in discipline)

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

acceptance; sufferance; toleration (a disposition to tolerate or accept people or situations)

indulgence; lenience; leniency (a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone)

overtolerance (too much permissiveness)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of tolerating something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

allowance (the act of allowing)

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

lenience; leniency (lightening a penalty or excusing from a chore by judges or parents or teachers)

Derivation:

tolerate (put up with something or somebody unpleasant)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

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

attitude; mental attitude (a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways)

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

broad-mindedness (an inclination to tolerate or overlook opposing or shocking opinions or behavior)

liberality; liberalness (an inclination to favor progress and individual freedom)

disinterest; neutrality (tolerance attributable to a lack of involvement)

Antonym:

intolerance (unwillingness to recognize and respect differences in opinions or beliefs)

Derivation:

tolerant (showing respect for the rights or opinions or practices of others)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

allowance; leeway; margin; tolerance

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

disagreement; discrepancy; divergence; variance (a difference between conflicting facts or claims or opinions)

 Context examples 

The donor CD4+CD25+ Tregs modulate immune responses and may induce tolerance to allogeneic organ transplants, such as hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCTs), thereby preventing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).

(Donor Regulatory T-lymphocytes, NCI Thesaurus)

Tolerance may or may not be present.

(Drug Dependence, NCI Thesaurus)

A tissue volume which receives a dose that is considered significant in relation to healthy tissue tolerance.

(Irradiated Volume, NCI Thesaurus)

Compared to the 4 liter PEG-3350-based preparations, this PEG-based laxative is a low volume (2 liter) preparation, which improves patients' tolerance.

(PEG-3350/Sodium Sulfate/Sodium Chloride/Potassium Chloride/Sodium Ascorbate/Ascorbic Acid-based Laxative, NCI Thesaurus)

We were soon to discover that it was not so, and that he was still there upon tolerance.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In addition to stimulating responses against antigens, dendritic cells also produce tolerance to self antigens.

(Dendritic Cell Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

His large tolerance rose up in him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

LIF induces MHC class I HLA-G expression by cytotrophoblasts, which is essential in implantation and may facilitate immune tolerance of the conceptus at the maternal-fetal interface.

(Leukemia Inhibitory Factor, NCI Thesaurus)

In both cases, allow a tolerance of plus five or minus four degrees.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

A family of highly-conserved proteins that are synthesized in response to hyperthermia (heat shock), hypoxia, or other stresses that appear to increase cellular thermal tolerance and enable cells to recover from stress.

(Heat Shock Protein, NCI Thesaurus)