Tolerance is to stand something, to let something be, like an older sister who puts up with her baby brother.
Acceptance is to embrace something, to endorse it. To accept something is to respect it and to be willing to interact with it, rather then grudgingly letting it exist.
I don’t understand the “forced” into part of your question. The two definitions are not mutually exclusive. You can either tolerate a situation and even accept it or you can tolerate a situation but you don’t have to accept it. It comes down to how you react to it and internalize or rationalize your involvement of that set of circumstances.
@Cruiser I can be forced, through laws and taxation, into tolerating the strange belief that human beings can change the temperature of an entire planet. I cannot be forced into accepting that the idea is true.
I think tolerance is grudgingly accepting something while acceptance is very openly accepting something. They are very close if put on a spectrum with their peers, but I think the end result/the feeling of whoever tolerates or accepts is different – the former does it because it is right, not because it feels right, while the latter does it because they feel it is right.
I wear a 13, see, and finding shoes that are at once Size 13, comfortable, affordable, visually appealing, and endowed with reasonably good arch and ankle support is juuuust shy of impossible. Good support is so rare that I don’t even really look for it anymore.
Torlerance and acceptance are two completely different things. Tolerance is something that you make an effort to accomplish and acceptance is basically embraceing the subject or product. When you accept something you will enjoy it. Some people while in a dispute say “okay thats fine I’ll accept that, I don’t like it , but I’ll accept it”. They are lying! They are going to tolerate it because they know they have to to get their end of the compromise. If they truely accepted it they would be cool with it and be excited about it. They wouldn’t have the alright whatever I’ll deal with it attitude. I hope my little description help answer your question.