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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

forbearance.

The action of forbearing (“abstaining or refraining from doing something”); (countable) an instance of this.

11 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/fəˈbɛːɹ(ə)n(t)s/Received-Pronunciation/fɔː-/Received-Pronunciation/fəɹˈbɛɹən(t)s/General-American/fɔɹ-/General-American
  1. The action of forbearing (“abstaining or refraining from doing something”); (countable) an instance of this.

    uncountable
  2. The action of forbearing (“abstaining or refraining from doing something”); (countable) an instance of this. The action of refraining from enforcing something which is due (such as a debt or obligation) or a right which one has; (countable) an instance of this.

    uncountable
  3. The action of forbearing (“abstaining or refraining from doing something”); (countable) an instance of this. Restraint and tolerance under provocation; patient self-control; indulgence, lenity.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *pró Proto-Indo-European *pro- Proto-Germanic *fra- Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti Proto-Germanic *beraną Proto-Germanic *fraberaną Old English forberan Middle English forberen English forbear Proto-Indo-European *-onts Latin -ns Latin -āns Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin -āntia Old French -ancebor. Middle English -aunce English -ance English forbearance From forbear (“to keep away from, avoid”) + -ance (suffix forming nouns indicating conditions or states).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.