Definition of "patient" in English

adjective

1. (of a person) Willing to wait if necessary; not losing one's temper while waiting.

   • Be patient: your friends will arrive in a few hours.

2. Constant in pursuit or exertion; persevering; calmly diligent.

   • patient endeavour
   • a patient wait
   • patient analysis
   • c. 1692, Sir Isaac Newton, letter to Dr. Richard Bentley Whatever I have done […] is due to […] patient thought.
   • December 15, 2016, Hettie Judah in the New York Times, Beloved Children’s-Book Characters, in Their Own Immersive World “Her personal life and her art were very intertwined: You can’t really separate them,” explains Sophia Jansson. “She mirrored her own a reality onto a fictional reality.” And this is perhaps the nub of the Moomin’s enduring appeal: a combination of adventuresome spirit and philosophy, all of which Jansson derived from close and patient observation, of human relationships and of the natural world alike.

3. (obsolete) Physically able to suffer or bear.

noun

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.

2. (linguistics, grammar) 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.

3. One who, or that which, is passively affected; a passive recipient.