Meaning & use
losing my patience
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phraseinformal
Becoming annoyed or frustrated because you can no longer wait calmly or accept a situation.
Grammar: Used as a verb phrase; the possessive pronoun changes with the subject: I am losing my patience, she is losing her patience.
Patterns
- be losing my patience
- be losing patience with someone
- be losing patience with something
I've asked you three times to turn down the music, and I'm losing my patience.
She was losing her patience with the slow internet connection.
The teacher is losing his patience with the constant interruptions.
Common combinations
- losing my patience with someone
- I'm losing my patience with my little brother.
- quickly losing my patience
- The manager is quickly losing her patience with the delays.
- losing my patience over something
- He's losing his patience over the endless paperwork.
- start losing my patience
- I start losing my patience when people are late.
Synonyms and how they differ
- getting impatient
- This is a more neutral and general way to say you are becoming impatient; 'losing my patience' often suggests you are close to showing anger.
- getting frustrated
- This focuses on the feeling of being blocked or unable to do something, while 'losing my patience' focuses on running out of calmness.
- running out of patience
- This is very similar but often implies you have almost no patience left; 'losing my patience' can describe the process of becoming impatient.
Opposites
Word family
- patience noun
- The quality of being able to wait or accept trouble without getting angry.
- patient adjective
- Able to wait calmly or accept delays without complaining.
- patiently adverb
- In a calm way that shows you can wait without getting annoyed.
- impatience noun
- The feeling of being annoyed by waiting or by something slow.
Commonly confused: losing my patience or patients?
losing my patience vs patients
This sounds the same as 'patience' but means people receiving medical care; 'losing my patients' would mean they are leaving or dying, not that you are annoyed.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
The fixed phrase uses a possessive pronoun before 'patience': 'my patience.' Option 2 uses 'the' instead of a possessive, which is not natural here. Option 3 puts 'my' in the wrong place. Option 4 uses 'patient' (a person or an adjective), which does not fit the phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “losing my patience”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.