impatience Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a lack of patience; irritation with anything that causes delay
    restlessness.
  2. noun a restless desire for change and excitement
  3. noun a dislike of anything that causes delay

WordNet

Im*pa"tience noun
Etymology
OE. impacience, F. impatience, fr. L. impatientia.
Definitions
  1. The quality of being impatient; want of endurance of pain, suffering, opposition, or delay; eagerness for change, or for something expected; restlessness; chafing of spirit; fretfulness; passion; as, the impatience of a child or an invalid.
    I then, . . . Out of my grief and my impatience, Answered neglectingly. Shak.
    With huge impatience he inly swelt More for great sorrow that he could not pass, Than for the burning torment which he felt. Spenser.

Webster 1913