tolerance

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others.
• noun Leeway for variation from a standard.
• noun The permissible deviation from a specified value of a structural dimension, often expressed as a percent.
• noun The capacity to endure hardship or pain.
• noun Physiological resistance to a toxin.
• noun Diminution in the physiological response to a drug that occurs after continued use, necessitating larger doses to produce a given response.
• noun Acceptance of a tissue graft or transplant without immunological rejection.
• noun Unresponsiveness to an antigen that normally produces an immunologic reaction.
• noun The ability of an organism to resist or survive infection by a parasitic or pathogenic organism.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The state or character of being tolerant.
• noun A disposition to be patient and indulgent toward those whose opinions or practices differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry or severity in judging of the opinions or conduct of others.
• noun The act of tolerating; toleration.
• noun In medicine, the power, either congenital or acquired, which an individual has of resistance to the action of a poison. Also toleration.
• noun In minting, same as allowance,7. See also remedy, 4. Also toleration.
• noun Synonyms . Catholicity, liberality.
• noun 1 and
• noun Tolerance, Toleration. Generally tolerance refers to the spirit, and toleration to the conduct. One may show toleration from policy, without really having the spirit of tolerance. See tolerate.
• noun The capacity of a tree to endure shade.—6. In mech., an allowable amount of variation in the dimensions of a machine or part. A tolerance of.00025 of an inch is allowed above or below the exact dimension in fine machine parts.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The power or capacity of enduring; the act of enduring; endurance.
• noun The endurance of the presence or actions of objectionable persons, or of the expression of offensive opinions; toleration.
• noun (Med.) The power possessed or acquired by some persons of bearing doses of medicine which in ordinary cases would prove injurious or fatal.
• noun (Forestry) Capability of growth in more or less shade.
• noun (Coinage) the allowed amount of variation from the standard or from exact conformity to the specified dimensions, weight, hardness, voltage etc., in various mechanical or electrical devices or operations; -- caklled also allowance
• noun (Biochemistry) the capacity to resist the deleterious action of a chemical agent normally harmful to the organism.
• noun (Immunology) the acquired inability to respond with an immune reaction to an antigen to which the organism normally responds; -- called also immunotolerance, immunological tolerance, or immune tolerance. Such tolerance may be induced by exposing an animal to the antigen at a very early stage of life, prior to maturation of the immune system, or, in adults, by exposing the animal to repeated low doses of a weak protein antigen (low-zone tolerance), or to a large amount of an antigen (high-zone tolerance).
• noun (Coinage) Same as Remedy of the mint. See under Remedy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a disposition to allow freedom of choice and behavior
• noun willingness to recognize and respect the beliefs or practices of others
• noun a permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits
• noun the power or capacity of an organism to tolerate unfavorable environmental conditions
• noun the act of tolerating something