1. good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence • Syn: patience, longanimity • Ant: impatience (for: patience) • Derivationally related forms: longanimous (for: longanimity), patient (for: patience) • Hypernyms: good nature 2. a delay in enforcing rights or claims or privileges; refraining from acting - his forbearance to reply was alarming • Derivationally related forms: forbear • Hypernyms: delay, holdup