What Does the Fed Mean? Be 'Patient'

When the Federal Reserve convenes next week to ponder the most momentous monetary policy decision since the financial crisis — when to raise interest rates — it will also be grappling with the meaning of one deceptively simple word: “patient.”

What, exactly, does it mean if the Fed keeps “patient” in its outlook for monetary policy, or, as investors now seem to think more likely, drops the word?