Dictionary

toleration en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /tɒləˈɹeɪʃən/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle French toleration, from Latin tolerātiōnem, accusative singular of tolerātiō, from the verb tolerō (“to tolerate”). Compare tolerance.

Meanings

1. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Endurance of evil, suffering etc.
2. (countable, uncountable) The allowance of something not explicitly approved; tolerance, forbearance.
3. (countable, uncountable) Specifically, the allowance by a government (or other ruling power) of the exercise of religion beyond the state established faith.
   • Above all, the establishment of toleration helped to weaken the presumption that plurality in matters of faith inevitably caused social disorder. 2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin, published 2013, page 86:

Forms

Deriveds

religious toleration · nontoleration · intoleration · tolerationism · tolerationist