Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Holding or tending to hold persistently to something, such as a point of view.
- adj. Holding together firmly; cohesive: a tenacious material.
- adj. Clinging to another object or surface; adhesive: tenacious lint.
- adj. Tending to retain; retentive: a tenacious memory.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Holding fast, or inclined to hold fast; inclined to retain what is in possession: with of before the thing held; hence, stubborn; obstinate.
- Retentive; apt to retain long what is committed to it: said of the memory.
- Niggardly; close-fisted.
- Apt to adhere to another substance; adhesive, as ropy, glutinous, or viscous matter; sticky; viscid: as, few substances are so tenacious as tar.
- Tough; having great cohesive force between its particles, so that they resist any effort to pull or force them asunder: as, steel is the most tenacious of all known substances.
Wiktionary
- adj. clinging to an object or surface; adhesive
- adj. unwilling to yield or give up; dogged
- adj. holding together; cohesive
- adj. having a good memory; retentive
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Holding fast, or inclined to hold fast; inclined to retain what is in possession.
- adj. Apt to retain; retentive.
- adj. Having parts apt to adhere to each other; cohesive; tough.
- adj. Apt to adhere to another substance; glutinous; viscous; sticking; adhesive.
- adj. Niggardly; closefisted; miserly.
- adj. Holding stoutly to one's opinion or purpose; obstinate; stubborn.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. good at remembering
- adj. stubbornly unyielding
- adj. sticking together
Etymologies
- From Latin tenāx ("holding fast, clinging"), from tenēre ("to hold") + -ious. (Wiktionary)
- From Latin tenāx, tenāc-, holding fast, from tenēre, to hold; see ten- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“May 29 Bloomberg -- U.S. agencies offered assistance to Lockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest defense contractor, which suffered what it called a "tenacious" cyber attack on its computer networks on May 21.”
“San Antonio was tenacious from the start, getting an immediate offensive rebound, then trapping Allen and forcing him to throw a bad pass that Ginobili stole.”
“Again Ivy gave that shrug, but her expression was tenacious.”
“In Washington, Rumsfeld was known as a tenacious and effective fighter of policy wars, once described by Henry Kissinger as a "skilled full-time politician-bureaucrat in whom ambition, ability, and substance fuse seamlessly.”
The Huffington Post: Donald Rumsfeld Reflects On Writing Of Memoir
“It is nice that you end up congratulating the press for being so tenacious, which is sweet music to their ears.”
John Neffinger: The Best of Intentions, the Worst of Explanations: Fixing the Bill Lynn Blunder
“He's known as a tenacious, aggressive investigative journalist but that's not really the role of a political editor.”
“He's known as a tenacious, aggressive investigative journalist”
“He's just tenacious, which is amazing for guy who has made millions and is a millionaire futures trader in Chicago.”
“He recalls the tenacious Mark Smith voicing extensive grievance over RT's desires to seek "pop perfection," an obvious jab at that other Mancunian group who had after all started out supporting The Fall.”
“For his part, Reid -- known as a tenacious fighter who has come out ahead in previous close elections -- will push the message against his opponents of how much he has done for the state.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tenacious’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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@vcb.etym.prjct - SAT WORD DUMP - as ...
The words on this list SAT regulars that I haven't sorted and grouped yet. It's like my wordy holding pen. get it? holding the pen to write a word? HA! I love how lame my humor is.
iconoclast, glacial, agnostic, histrionic, treacly, contemptuous, captious, bombastic, bombast, perfidy, quiescence, sordid and 148 more...
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Dominant/Submissive
single-minded, self-seeking, vain, territorial, stubborn, self-possessed, unwary, self-important, rigid, relentless, resolute, purposeful and 189 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Words For Novel (Part 3)
fibers, gypsy, polymer, schism, syphilitic garden..., holocaust, scrutinant, contemplate, aftermath, consequence, deadlock, impasse and 153 more...
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Character Traits
This is a list of adjectives used by writers to help develop characters.
guileful, obsessed, brilliant, bright, naive, streetwise, streetsmart, ruthless, cruel, foolish, obsessive, introspective and 19 more...
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SAT Words
Know these common SAT words
taciturn, docile, expedient, superfluous, eclectic, impromptu, dogmatic, invidious, rhetoric, tenacious, pretentious, parsimony and 14 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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EN - trendy lifestyle words
private, tenacious, vogue, hoard, landscape, extravaganza, besiege, eatery, wrest, refurbish, enticing, breakout and 24 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1826 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tenacious.
hramezani محکم
سر سخت
چسبنده
Nov 28, 2012
Kristianto2010 Only one thing will conquer our fears: tenacious faith in God’s presence, protection, power, and promises. ODB July 19, 2011. (tenacious = teguh, ulet)
Jul 18, 2011