longanimous means long-suffering; patient; showing self-control and restraint. It carries an Arena rating of 1554, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, longanimous ranks #1,434 of 17,122 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #4,632 of 17,140 for The Improbable, #7,533 of 17,130 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #8,376 of 17,093 for Most Storied Words.
Why “longanimous” is a great word
Showing patient and unruffled self-control and restraint under adversity. From Late Latin longanimus, longanimis, from Latin longus ("long") + animus ("spirit, mind"), combined with the English suffix -ous. Unlike "magnanimous," which emphasizes a generosity from a position of strength, or "stoic," which implies an impassive suppression of feeling, longanimous is a quieter, more positive endurance, a patience that is worn like a deep groove in stone by a constant, gentle trickle. It is the parent waiting through the long night for a wayward child, the gardener tending a sapling that will not bear fruit for decades, and the scholar copying a manuscript line by line while the world outside clamors—a testament to the heart’s capacity to measure suffering not in moments, but in lifetimes.
adj
- Long-suffering; patient; showing self-control and restraint.
Words closest in meaning
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