patient
//ˈpeɪ̯ʃənt//
Forms
- Comparative
- more patient
- Superlative
- most patient
- Plural
- patients
Definitions
1.Willing to wait if necessary; not losing one's temper while waiting.
- Be patient: your friends will arrive in a few hours.
- Asari Cultural VI: Due to our lifespan-sometimes reaching 1,000 years of age-we are patient in our decisions, and prefer long-term solutions over short-term gains.
2.Constant in pursuit or exertion; persevering; calmly diligent.
1.A person or animal that receives health care from a doctor, nurse, dentist, allied health practitioner, or other person educated in health care.
- Hello, is your practice currently accepting new patients? I'd like to become a patient there if so.
- At the veterinary clinic, caring for the patients successfully and dealing with the patients’ owners successfully are both necessary skills.
- The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.
2.The noun or noun phrase that is semantically on the receiving end of a verb's action.
- The subject of a passive verb is usually a patient.
- The number of a first or second person participant is generally marked for both agent and patient in all aspects.
- Since we have argued that the absolutive argument in Dyirbal is the grammatical subject of its clause, we must conclude that in the antipassive construction the agent replaces the patient as grammatical subject.
3.One who, or that which, is passively affected; a passive recipient.
- How does a person change from a patient to an agent in shaping and living a course of life?
- Malice is a passion so impetuous and precipitate, that it often involves the agent and the patient.
- For it seems clear that the subject of change is the changed, i.e. the patient -- on one proviso. the proviso is that there be an agent or changer.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #628
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Common
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English pacient
From Middle French patient
From Old French pacient
From Latin patiens, present participle of patior (“to suffer, endure”)
From Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hate, hurt”).