patient
A person or animal that receives health care from a doctor, nurse, dentist, allied health practitioner, or other person educated in health care.
Word facts
Definition of Patient
One who, or that which, is passively affected; a passive recipient.
Example sentences
The patient waited calmly in the examination room for the doctor to arrive.
The nurse checked on each patient every hour throughout the night.
Using Patient well
A closer look at how patient is used — meaning in plain English, how close synonyms differ, and examples at different levels.
Able to wait calmly or put up with problems and delays without getting angry or upset.
Use it to describe someone staying calm through waiting, difficulty, or slow progress, from casual talk to formal praise. Note that as a noun 'patient' also means a person receiving medical care.
Everyday conversation about traffic, teaching, or parenting; performance reviews and recommendations; and instructions that ask readers to bear with a process.
The same spelling is also a noun meaning a person under medical care, so context decides whether 'patient' means calm or means the sick person.
- tolerant
- Focuses on accepting people or behavior you might dislike, rather than on calmly enduring waiting or delay.
- forbearing
- Formal and somewhat literary; stresses deliberately holding back irritation or retaliation you'd be entitled to feel.
- long-suffering
- Suggests patience worn thin over a long ordeal, often with a hint of quiet, weary complaint.
- unhurried
- Describes a relaxed pace rather than the emotional restraint at the core of patient; more about tempo than temper.
- even-tempered
- Points to a steady, hard-to-rattle personality overall, not specifically the ability to wait.
- impatient
- The plain, direct opposite: restless and easily frustrated by waiting.
- restless
- Emphasizes physical or mental fidgeting and inability to settle rather than short temper.
- hasty
- Stresses rushing into action too quickly, which is one result of lacking patience.
- Beginner Please be patient; the bus will come soon.
- In writing A patient teacher, she let students reach the answer themselves rather than handing it to them.
- Advanced Restoration work like this rewards the patient: a single panel can take a conservator months of careful, invisible labor.
A good 'patient' in a waiting room waits without fuss — and a patient person does the same.
Synonyms for Patient
Related words
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Words that rhyme with Patient
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FAQ
Questions people ask
What does patient mean?
A person or animal that receives health care from a doctor, nurse, dentist, allied health practitioner, or other person educated in health care. It is a noun.
How many syllables does patient have?
Patient breaks into 2 syllables — pay·shuhnt — when you say it aloud.
What part of speech is patient?
Patient works as a noun. As a noun, it names a thing, idea, or concept.
What are synonyms for patient?
You can often swap patient for diligent, enduring, tolerant, unhurried, though each carries a slightly different shade of meaning.
How do you use patient in a sentence?
Example: "The patient waited calmly in the examination room for the doctor to arrive."