forbear
Exercise patient restraint
Forbear means to hold back from doing something, especially when you have reason or desire to act: I forbore from commenting on her awful haircut.
It suggests restraint or patience in the face of provocation.
The past tense is forbore, past participle forborne.
The noun forebear (usually spelled with an e) means ancestor—a different word entirely.
Ability to restrain impulses
resist · restrain · hold back · patience · tolerance · endurance · temperance · moderation
Ancestor from generations past
- foremotherFemale forebear
- progenitorAncestor or originator
- predecessorOne who came first
- patriarchMale head of family
matriarch · antecedent · primogenitor · founder · originator · elder · foregoer · precursor
self-control
Ability to restrain impulses
desist · resist · restrain · hold back · patience · tolerance · endurance · temperance · moderation · composure
forefather
Ancestor from generations past
- foremotherFemale forebear
- progenitorAncestor or originator
- predecessorOne who came first
patriarch · matriarch · antecedent · primogenitor · founder · originator · elder · foregoer · precursor · bloodline
- abstinencesobriety, celibacy, chastity, teetotalism, fasting
- ancestorsancestor, ancestors, forefather, forefathers, foremother
- archaic imperativeshark, behold, begone, beware, heed
- endurancestamina, endure, perseverance, persistence, staying power
- silencequiet, silent, mute, hush, stillness
- surrendersurrender, surrenders, surrendering, I surrender, capitulate