impatient

English

Etymology

From Old French impacient (modern French impatient), from Latin impatiēns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpeɪʃənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: im‧pa‧tient

Adjective

impatient (comparative more impatient, superlative most impatient)

1. Restless and intolerant of delays.
   • 1712 August 19 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, August 8, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 469; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, , volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     The impatient man will not give himself time to be informed of the matter that lies before him.

     The spelling has been modernized.

2. Anxious and eager, especially to begin or have something.
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Great Love of His Native Country. ”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. , volume II, London: Benj Motte, , →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 258:

     For, if (ſaid he) you throw among five Yahoos as much Food as would be ſufficient for fifty, they will, inſtead of eating peaceably, fall together by the ears, each ſingle one impatient to have all to itſelf; […]

3. (obsolete) Not to be borne; unendurable.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Dismayed with so defperate deadly wound,
     And eke impatient of unwonted payne,
     He lowdly bray'd with beastly yelling sownd

4. Prompted by, or exhibiting, impatience.

   impatient speeches or replies

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 287:

     What, will you tear / Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?

Derived terms

• impatiently
• impatience
• impassive

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin impatientem. Morphologically analyzable as im- +‎ patient.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pa.sjɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

impatient (feminine impatiente, masculine plural impatients, feminine plural impatientes)

1. impatient

Noun

impatient m (plural impatients, feminine impatiente)

1. impatient person

Derived terms

• impatience
• impatienter

Further reading

• “impatient”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.