impatient
Americanadjective
-
not patient; not accepting delay, opposition, pain, etc., with calm or patience.
- Antonyms:
- calm
-
indicating lack of patience.
an impatient answer.
-
restless in desire or expectation; eagerly desirous.
- Synonyms:
- hasty, sudden, precipitate, impetuous
idioms
adjective
-
lacking patience; easily irritated at delay, opposition, etc
-
exhibiting lack of patience
an impatient retort
-
intolerant (of) or indignant (at)
impatient of indecision
-
restlessly eager (for something or to do something)
Usage
What does impatient mean? Impatient means not accepting delays or obstacles with restraint and self-control, as in Fans were so impatient for the next book in the series that they overwhelmed the author with messages on Twitter.Someone who is impatient is generally not happy with having to wait. You might be impatient for your vacation to come, thinking about your vacation all the time and becoming irritable because it’s not vacation time yet. A driver might be impatient about being stuck in traffic, blowing their horn repeatedly to show their impatience.Impatient can be used figuratively to describe events that happen quickly. For example, an impatient winter might describe a time in the autumn when the temperature drops quickly, implying that the winter season was too impatient to wait until its proper time to come.Impatient is sometimes used in the idiom impatient of, meaning intolerant of. For example, someone who is generally kind and patient may be impatient of lying. If they’re lied to, they may become irritable and argumentative with the person telling the lie. Impatient of is normally used in situations in which someone is drawing contrast to their tolerance of other things by highlighting their impatience of something.Example: I’ve had so much work lately, but my boss is still impatient about my handing in work on time.
Other Word Forms
- impatiently adverb
- impatientness noun
- unimpatient adjective
- unimpatiently adverb
Etymology
Origin of impatient
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English impacient, from Latin impatient-, stem of impatiēns “not enduring, not tolerating”; equivalent to im- 2 + patient
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Kassis, presumably worried that the arms stockpiles would become unavailable to him, became impatient.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026
She added: “The application of existing law to the case raises tricky questions ... The Court is impatient: It already knows what it thinks, and insists on getting everything over quickly.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026
That first year, though, I had many moments with my boss where he seemed impatient with me for not catching on quickly.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 27, 2026
"Fans and media are increasingly impatient with what they see as excessive complexity," Chinellato added.
From BBC • Feb. 18, 2026
The people around them were milling about and muttering, clearly impatient for the trial to start again, so Chess hoped the kids’ movements wouldn’t stand out too much.
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
