forbearance

Noun

forbearance (countable and uncountable, plural forbearances)

1. (uncountable) The action of forbearing (“abstaining or refraining from doing something”); (countable) an instance of this.
   • Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance: / The truth appeares ſo naked on my ſide, / That any purblind eye may find it out.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   • Then true nobleſſe vvould / Learne him forbearance from ſo foule a vvrong, / VVhat ſubject can giue ſentence on his King: […]1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597...

   Antonyms:

   unforbearance

   1. (uncountable) The action of refraining from enforcing something which is due (such as a debt or obligation) or a right which one has; (countable) an instance of this.
      • It is neceſſary that there ſhould be a ſtated Rate of Intereſt, that in Debts and Forbearances, vvhere Contract has not ſetled it betvveen the Parties, the Lavv might give a Rule, and Courts of Judicature might knovv vvhat Damages to allovv: […]1691, [John Locke], Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money. […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], published 1692, →OCLC, page...
   2. (uncountable) Restraint and tolerance under provocation; patient self-control; indulgence, lenity.
      • If I have little, others have leſſe; If I feele paine, ſome others, torture: If their ſufferings be juſt, my forbearances are mercifull; my proviſions, to theirs liberall: […]1645, Jos[eph] Hall, “Sect[ion] IX. Consideration of the Worse Condition of Others.”, in The Remedy of Discontentment: Or, A Treatise of Contentation in whatsoever Condition: […], London: […] J. G....
      • "Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 33