Synonyms of forbearing

forbearing 1 of 2

adjective

as in patient

accepting pains or hardships calmly or without complaint

she was inspired by the forbearing patients of the intensive care unit

Synonyms & Similar Words

• patient
• stoic
• obedient
• passive
• uncomplaining
• long-suffering
• tolerant
• obliging
• subordinate
• willing
• collected
• lenient
• restrained
• acquiescent
• resigned
• composed
• amiable
• submissive
• docile
• complying
• tractable
• compliant
• placable
• repressed
• disciplined
• yielding
• conformist
• amenable
• agreeable
• subservient
• constrained
• slavish
• inhibited
• law-abiding
• contained
• unresponsive
• unresistant
• uncaring
• apathetic
• curbed
• self-controlled
• self-contained

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• impatient
• complaining
• protesting
• weary
• fed up
• tired
• resistant
• bored
• defiant
• kvetching
• contrary
• kvetchy
• disobedient
• refractory
• rebellious
• recalcitrant
• intractable
• insubordinate
• unmanageable
• unruly
• ungovernable

forbearing

2 of 2

verb

present participle of forbear

as in avoiding

to resist the temptation of

she's old enough to make her own decisions, so we must forbear criticizing her taste in clothes

Synonyms & Similar Words

• avoiding
• keeping (from)
• denying
• withholding (from)
• refraining (from)
• abjuring
• abstaining (from)
• refusing
• forgoing
• shunning
• eschewing
• constraining
• curbing
• checking
• inhibiting
• rejecting
• combating
• repudiating
• fighting
• bucking

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• submitting (to)
• yielding (to)
• bowing (to)
• surrendering (to)
• succumbing (to)
• giving in (to)
• conceding (to)
• acquiescing (to)
• capitulating
• knuckling under (to)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of forbearing

Adjective

With the economy in the doldrums, the public is less forbearing. — Jeff Kingston, Time, 4 Oct. 2025

Verb

Some of the most outrageous scenes are between Stacy, who likes to act out, and her forbearing therapist (Will Arnett). — Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 4 June 2026

If Mamdani seems curiously forbearing toward Amin, given his own history, that has much to do with what happened next. — Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2025