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ENDURANCE
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The power to withstand hardship or stress
Example:
the marathon tests a runner's endurance
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("endurance" is a kind of...):
strength (the property of being physically or mentally strong)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "endurance"):
sufferance (patient endurance especially of pain or distress)
stamina; staying power; toughness (enduring strength and energy)
long-sufferance; long-suffering (patient endurance of pain or unhappiness)
tolerance (the power or capacity of an organism to tolerate unfavorable environmental conditions)
Derivation:
endure (put up with something or somebody unpleasant)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A state of surviving; remaining alive
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("endurance" is a kind of...):
aliveness; animation; life; living (the condition of living or the state of being alive)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "endurance"):
subsistence (a means of surviving)
Derivation:
endure (continue to live and avoid dying)
Context examples:
Yet I did not heed the bleakness of the weather; I was better fitted by my conformation for the endurance of cold than heat.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
The Dalmatian is a symmetrical, muscular medium-sized dog with superior endurance.
(Dalmatian, NCI Thesaurus)
His endurance was faltering, but he compelled his arms and legs to drive him deeper until his will snapped and the air drove from his lungs in a great explosive rush.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Endurance, or aerobic, activities increase your breathing and heart rate. Brisk walking or jogging, dancing, swimming, and biking are examples.
(Exercise for Seniors, NIH: National Institute on Aging)
Strong winds over the Channel presented difficulty during the crossing, Zapata said, adding it required much endurance to manage to stay airborne.
(French inventor Franky Zapata successfully crosses English Channel on jet-powered hoverboard, Wikinews)
I honour endurance, perseverance, industry, talent; because these are the means by which men achieve great ends and mount to lofty eminence.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
I had regarded his presence as an encumbrance to the expedition, but, as a matter of fact, I am now well convinced that his power of endurance is as great as my own.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And so also, when the ring has become as extinct as the lists, we may understand that a broader philosophy would show that all things, which spring up so naturally and spontaneously, have a function to fulfil, and that it is a less evil that two men should, of their own free will, fight until they can fight no more than that the standard of hardihood and endurance should run the slightest risk of being lowered in a nation which depends so largely upon the individual qualities of her citizens for her defence.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Miss Woodhouse, the comfort of being sometimes alone!—seemed to burst from an overcharged heart, and to describe somewhat of the continual endurance to be practised by her, even towards some of those who loved her best.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
With him came Aylward and Hordle John, armed as of old, but mounted for their journey upon a pair of clumsy Landes horses, heavy-headed and shambling, but of great endurance, and capable of jogging along all day, even when between the knees of the huge archer, who turned the scale at two hundred and seventy pounds.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)