Engineering tolerance is the permissible limit or limits of variation in:
a physical dimension;
a measured value or physical property of a material, manufactured object, system, or service;
other measured values (such as temperature, humidity, etc.);
in engineering and safety, a physical distance or space (tolerance), as in a truck (lorry), train or boat under a bridge as well as a train in a tunnel (see structure gauge and loading gauge);
in mechanical engineering the space between a bolt and a nut or a hole, etc.Dimensions, properties, or conditions may have some variation without significantly affecting functioning of systems, machines, structures, etc. A variation beyond the tolerance (for example, a temperature that is too hot or too cold) is said to be noncompliant, rejected, or exceeding the tolerance.