tolerant

/'tɔlərənt/

Thân thiện

A teacher is tolerant of different student opinions during a class discussion.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Willing to accept behavior, beliefs, or opinions that are different from one's own; showing a lack of prejudice: This is the primary meaning, describing a person who is open-minded and respectful of diversity.
   • Able to endure or withstand something unpleasant or difficult without being harmed: This meaning describes the capacity of a person, organism, or material to withstand adverse conditions.
   • Exhibiting patience and forgiveness, especially when provoked: This describes a character trait of being forbearing and lenient.

Usage Examples

• Describing open-mindedness:
  • She is very tolerant of other people's religious beliefs.
  • A tolerant society welcomes cultural diversity.
• Describing endurance or resistance:
  • This grass species is tolerant of drought.
  • Some bacteria have become tolerant to certain antibiotics.
• Describing patience and forgiveness:
  • He was remarkably tolerant of the constant noise from the construction site.
  • Parents need to be tolerant of their children's mistakes.

Advanced Usage

• "Tolerant of": This is the standard preposition used with "tolerant" to indicate what is being accepted or endured.
  • The community is surprisingly tolerant of new ideas.
  • These plants are tolerant of poor soil conditions.
• In a technical or medical context, "tolerant" can describe a state of reduced reactivity.
  • The patient became tolerant to the medication, requiring a higher dose.

Variants and Related Words

• Tolerate (verb): To allow or endure something.
  • I cannot tolerate such rude behavior.
• Tolerance (noun): The quality or state of being tolerant.
  • The school promotes tolerance and understanding.
• Intolerant (adjective): The opposite of tolerant; unwilling to accept differences.
  • His intolerant views were widely criticized.

Synonyms

• Broad-minded: Willing to accept many different types of behavior or opinions.
• Open-minded: Receptive to new and different ideas.
• Forbearing: Patient and self-controlled, especially in the face of provocation.
• Resistant (for the endurance meaning): Not affected or harmed by something.

Related Phrases

• Live and let live: An idiom expressing a tolerant attitude, meaning to accept other people's differences without interference.
  • My philosophy is to live and let live.
• Turn a blind eye: To pretend not to notice something wrong or bad, which can be an act of tolerance (or indifference).
  • The manager turned a blind eye to the minor infraction.

Notes on Meaning

The word "tolerant" often implies a conscious choice or a cultivated attitude of acceptance. It does not necessarily mean one agrees with the differing behavior or opinion, but that one chooses to allow it to exist without opposition. In a biological context, it is a neutral term describing a capacity for survival under stress.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. showing the capacity for endurance
   • injustice can make us tolerant and forgiving
   • a man patient of distractions
2. able to tolerate environmental conditions or physiological stress
   • the plant is tolerant of saltwater
   • these fish are quite tolerant as long as extremes of pH are avoided
   • the new hybrid is more resistant to drought
3. showing or characterized by broad-mindedness
   • a broad political stance
   • generous and broad sympathies
   • a liberal newspaper
   • tolerant of his opponent's opinions
4. tolerant and forgiving under provocation
   • our neighbor was very kind about the window our son broke
5. showing respect for the rights or opinions or practices of others

Từ đồng nghĩa

• patient of
• resistant
• broad
• large-minded
• liberal
• kind