Tolerant means accepting or putting up with people, ideas, or situations that are different from what you prefer or believe, even when you disagree with them or find them difficult. A tolerant person can live peacefully alongside others who think, look, act, or believe differently.

You might show tolerance when a classmate plays music you don't enjoy, or when your little brother wants to watch a show you find boring. Being tolerant doesn't mean pretending to agree or hiding your own opinions. It means recognizing that others have the right to be themselves, just as you have the right to be yourself.

The opposite of tolerant is intolerant: someone who can't accept differences and tries to force everyone to match their own preferences. An intolerant person might refuse to work with classmates who have different interests, or insist that everyone must think exactly the way they do.

Plants can be tolerant too. A drought-tolerant plant survives well without much water. In science or engineering, something that's tolerant can handle variations, like a machine that's heat-tolerant and keeps working even when it gets quite hot.

Tolerance (the noun form) describes this quality of accepting differences. Tolerance can grow over time, especially when you encounter ideas or behaviors that challenge your own views.