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 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.
• 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.

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