Tenacious

Definition: Tenacious

Tenacious

Adjective

1. Stubbornly unyielding; "dogged persistence"; "dour determination"; "the most vocal and pertinacious of all the critics"; "a mind not gifted to discover truth but tenacious to hold it"- T.S.Eliot; "men tenacious of opinion".

2. (of memory) having greater than average range; "a long memory especially for insults"; "a tenacious memory".

3. Sticking together; "two coherent sheets"; "tenacious burrs".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "tenacious" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Etymology: Tenacious \Te*na"cious\, adjective. [Latin expression tenax, -acis, from tenere to hold. See Tenable, and compare to Tenace.]. (references)

Synonyms: Tenacious

Coherence

Glue; agglutinate, conglutinate; cement, lute, paste, gum; solder, weld; cake, consolidate; (solidify); agglomerate. Adjective: cohesive, adhesive, adhering, cohering; Verb: tenacious, tough; sticky.

Life

Adjective: living, alive; in life, in the flesh, in the land of the living; on this side of the grave, above ground, breathing, quick, animated; animative; lively. (active); all alive and kicking; tenacious of life; full of life, yeasty.

Memory

Retentive memory, tenacious memory, photographic memory, green memory, trustworthy memory, capacious memory, faithful memory, correct memory, exact memory, ready memory, prompt memory, accurate recollection; perfect memory, total recall.

Obstinacy

Adjective: obstinate, tenacious, stubborn, obdurate, casehardened; inflexible; (hard); balky; immovable, unshakable, not to be moved; inert; unchangeable; inexorable; (determined); mulish, obstinate as a mule, pig-headed.

Retention

Adjective: retaining; Verb: retentive, tenacious.

Tenacity

Verb: be tenacious. Adjective: resist fracture.

Adjective: tenacious, tough, strong, resisting, sequacious, stringy, gristly cartilaginous, leathery, coriaceous, tough as whitleather; stubborn. (obstinate).

Crosswords: Tenacious

She's ah tenacious. (Jurassic Park; writing credit: Michael Crichton)

I'm reenacting the battle as I would have fought it. Meade was tenacious, but he was cautious (The Living Daylights; writing credit: Richard Maibaum)

Tenacious D (1999)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Family Themes and Hawthorne's Fiction: The Tenacious Web (reference)

• Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach: The Victory of a Tenacious Will (Studies in Austrian Literature, Culture, and Thought) (reference)

• Pit Bulls and Tenacious Guard Dogs (reference)

• Tenacious of Their Liberties: The Congregationalists in Colonial Massachusetts (Religion in America Series) (reference)

• The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Tenacious D [EXPLICIT LYRICS] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

B. anthracis Colony Characteristics: A. Consistency sticky (tenacious). When teased with loop, colony will stand up like beaten egg white. Credit: CDC.

A large tree has a tenacious, if tenuous, hold on an eroding bank along Solo Creek, Wye Island. Credit: America's Coastlines.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Health

Chest percussion or lightly clapping the chest and back, may help dislodge tenacious or copious secretions. (references)

This leads to tenacious mucus in the lungs, to mucus plugs in the pancreas, and to the characteristically high sweat chloride levels. (references)

Economic History

Lithuania

Led by the tenacious Landsbergis, Lithuania's leadership continued to seek Western diplomatic recognition of its independence. (references)

Afghanistan

By the mid-1980s, the tenacious Afghan resistance movement--aided by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and others--was exacting a high price from the Soviets, both militarily within Afghanistan and by souring the U.S.S.R.'s relations with much of the Western and Islamic world. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expressions using "tenacious": a tenacious memory ♦ be tenacious ♦ tenacious of life. Additional references.

Albanian

ngjitës (adhesive, agglutinative, ascendant, catching, cement, communicable, contagious, dauby, epidemic, epidemical, glue, gluey, glutinous, gooey, gummy, hum paste, infectious, mucilage, pitchy, soaring, stick, sticking, sticky, tacky, transmissible, upward, viscous), këmbëngulës (assiduous, difficult, dogged, emphatic, exacting, insistent, lingering, patient, persevering, persistent, pressing, rebellious, unremitting, unyielding, up and coming, urgent), i fortë (able bodied, adamant, adamantine, brawny, cast iron, cogent, decuman, Doughty, durable, endurable, enduring, fast, fierce, firm, flinty, forceful, Hale, hard, Hardy, heavy duty, high pitched, intense, intensive, keen, lancinating, nervous, oaky, potent, powerful, red blooded, refractory, resistant, robust, rocky, rough, rugged, screamy, serviceable, sharp, smart, solid, sound, spanking, stable, staunch, steely, stentorian, stiff, stout, strong, sturdy, swashing, swingeing, tenable, tough, two-fisted, vehement, vigorous, violent, virile, virulent, well-built, well-set). (various references)

Arabic 

‏متماسك (coherent, cohesive, concrete, consistent, solid), ‏متشبث, ‏لزج (adherent, adhesive, clingy, glairy, gluey, glutinous, gummy, ropy, slimy, sticky, stringy, tacky, tough, viscid, viscous), ‏عنيد (adamant, asinine, contrary, coriaceous, die hard, dogged, dour, fractious, hardheaded, headstrong, heady, implacable, incorrigible, inelastic, inexorable, inflexible, intractable, intransigent, inveterate, irreconcilable, mulish, nagging, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, ornery, peevish, persevering, pertinacious, perverse, piggish, pigheaded, refractory, rigid, scabrous, scratchy, self willed, stiff, stiff necked, stout, stubborn, sullen, thwart, uncompromising, unruly, unwilling, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), ‏صلب (adamant, aguish, callosity, callous, cast iron, concrete, consolidate, corneous, cross oneself, crucifixion, crucify, cruel, firm, harden, horny, inflexible, loin, metallic, out and out, persistent, ramrod, resistant, rigid, robust, sear, solid, solidary, stabile, stark, stiff, stiffen, stubborn, temper, tough, unkind, unyielding), ‏ذكور قادر على التذكر, ‏دبق (adhesive, clingy, fatty, gelation, glutinous, gummy, limy, slimy, sticky, stringy, tacky, viscid, viscous). (various references)

Bulgarian 

упорит (asinine, constant, defiant, die hard, dogged, flinty, gritty, hard bitten, hard boiled, hard core, hard set, hardheaded, hard-shell, importunate, incompliant, indomitable, insistent, intractable, inveterate, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, patient, persevering, persistent, pertinacious, piggish, purposeful, refractory, self willed, self-opinionated, set, spiky, stolid, stout, stouthearted, strenuous, sturdy, tough, unpliant, unremitting, unwearing, wilful, wrongheaded), силен (acute, athletic, beefy, emphatic, energetic, flush, forceful, forcible, foul-mouthed, full, generous, hard, heavy, high, intense, invulnerable, iron, loud, lusty, main, male, mighty, muscled, muscular, nappy, nervous, nervy, perishing, pithy, potent, powerful, rattling, robust, short, shrewd, smacking, smart, sounding, stark, stiff, strong, sturdy, swingeing, telling, thumping, thundering, torrid, two-fisted, vehement, vigorous), твърд (adamant, adamantine, constant, crusty, decided, determined, dogged, fast, firm, flat, flinty, forceful, gritty, hard, hardhearted, immovable, obstinate, persistent, proof, rigid, rock-ribbed, rocky, sclerotic, sclerous, set, solid, stable, staunch, steadfast, steady, steely, stiff, stout, stringy, strong, sturdy, swerveless, tinny, unfaltering, unflinching, unshakable, unshrinking, unswerving, unwavering), крепък (hearty), вкопчен, отстояващ на правата си, здраво слепен, здрав (blooming, durable, entire, fast, fit, flourishing, flush, good, hard, healthful, healthy, hearty, hefty, invulnerable, lasting, laudable, lusty, nervous, nervy, reliable, right, robust, rubbery, rude, rugged, safe, salubrious, seaworthy, secure, serviceable, sinewy, sleek, sober, sound, stalwart, stanch, staunch, steady, stout, strapping, strong, sturdy, substantial, sure footed, taintless, thickset, uncorrupted, up to the mark, vigorous, well, well-conditioned, without scathe), лепкав (adherent, adhesive, clammy, clayey, gluey, glutinous, gluttonous, gooey, gummy, limy, smeary, sticky, stiff, stringy, tacky, treacly), държащ. (various references)

Chinese 

韌 (annealed, bow case, pliable but strong, to cover, tough), � �強 (hard to defeat). (various references)

Czech

tuhý (grim, hard, rigid, solid, stiff, tough), soudržný (cohesive), houževnatý (dogged, persistent, resilient, stiff, strenuous, tough, wiry). (various references)

Danish

sej (black cod, black pollack, coalfish, ductile, pollack, saithe, sillock, tough). (various references)

Dutch

taai (boring, leather, stodgy, tiresome). (various references)

Farsi 

محکم (Buff, Firm, Meaty, Secure, Stable, Steady, Steel, Stout, Strict, Strong, Sturdy, Substantial, Tight, Tough), مستحکم (Redoubtable), چسبنده (Adhesive, Gooey, Gummy, Inherent, Innate, Sticky), سفت (Astringent, Callous, Concrete, Fast, Hard, Inelastic, Ironclad, Stark, Stiff, Taut, Tense, Thick, Tight, Tough, Wiry), سرسخت (Barnacle, Bullheaded, Diehard, Dogged, Dour, Headstrong, Intransigent, Inveterate, Obstinate, Recalcitrant, Refractory, Remorseless, Stark, Stubborn), استوار (Consistent, Constant, Firm, Immovable, Secure, Sound, Stable, Steadfast, Steady, Steel, Sure). (various references)

Finnish

sitkeä (dogged, persevering, sticky, tough, viscous). (various references)

French

tenace. (various references)

German

zäh (dogged, glutinous, hardened, Hardy, leathery, rubbery, slow moving, stiff, stringily, stringy, tenaciously, tough). (various references)

Greek 

συγκρατητικόσ (retentive), συνεκτικόσ (cohesive, tough), συνεκτικός (tough), σφιχτόσ (firm, hidebound, tight), στιφρός (tough), επίμονοσ (importunate, insistent, persevering, persistent, pertinacious, stubborn), επίμονος (intractable, persevering, persistent, pertinaceous), ανυποχώρητοσ, ανυποχώρητος, ανθεκτικός (hard-wearing, resilient, resistant, sturdy). (various references)

Hebrew 

מתעקש (persistent), �"חלטי (absolute, assertive, decisive, forthright, peremptory, purposeful, stout). (various references)

Hungarian

megbízható (emlékezőtehetség), ellenálló (confront, repellent, resistant, resister, stand up to, stubborn, withstand), összetartó (convergent, converging), állhatatos (blue, consistent, consistent with, persevering, persistent, pertinacious, set, steadfast, steady). (various references)

Indonesian

kukuh (firm, hefty, see: kokoh, strong). (various references)

Italian

tenace (firm, lasting, single minded, strong). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

� �強 (dogged, stubborn), 粘っ�"い (persistent, sticky, stiff), 粘り強い (persevering, persistent), 執念深い (persistent, spiteful, vengeful, vindictive), して言えば (always, be in shape, being downhearted, blearily, chat, clipped, constantly, crisp, Damn it!, drizzling, easy to do, easy to make, gently, hold a dignified appearance, if I must say, precise, rice prepared for sushi, shamelessly, stubborn, style of Japanese cooking, talk, to be dejected, to be disheartened, to be dispirited, to chew, to lose heart, to pee, to piss, to squat, to suck, weakly), 強靭 (stiff, strong, tough). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

が�"きょう (dogged, glasses, ringleader, spectacles, stubborn), しぶとい (stubborn), ねばっ�"い (persistent, sticky, stiff), ねばりづよい (persevering, persistent), しゅうね�"ぶかい (persistent, spiteful, vengeful, vindictive), きょうじ�" (assassin's dagger, lunatic, madman, stiff, strong, tough). (various references)

Manx

greimmaltagh. (various references)

Pig Latin

enacioustay.(various references)

Portuguese

tenaz (close, firm, forceps, persistent, retentive, sturdy, tongs). (various references)

Romanian

tenace (stubborn, tough), stãruitor (arduous, assiduous, constant, dogged, firm, instant, instantly, patient, persevering, perseveringly, persistent, persisting, pertinacious, pleading, pressing, pushing, steadfast, steady, stubborn, trusty, urgent, zealous), sigur (absolute, absolutely, assuredly, certain, certainly, cocksure, confident, convinced, decided, dependable, indeed, it must be, positive, reliable, reliant, safe, safely, secure, self confident, sound, steady, sterling, straight, sure, surely, trustworthy, undeniable, undoubtedly, unequivocal), perseverent (abiding, dogged, patient, persevering, perseveringly, seductive, sedulous, unremitting, unwearied, urgent). (various references)

Russian 

цепкий (clingy, grasping, prehensile, retentive). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

uporan (aggressive, dogged, insistent, last ditch, obdurate, persistent, pertinacious, refractory, stubborn, unremitting), jak (beefy, bruiser, great, grunting ox, humming, intense, lusty, powerful, racy, red blooded, sinewy, spanking, stiff, strong, yak), istrajan (assiduous, dogged, persevering, persistent, pertinacious, unremitting), čvrst (firm, hard, hard and fast, solid, sound, stalwart, staunch, steadfast, steady, strong, sturdy, tight, trim, unwavering, wiry). (various references)

Spanish

tenaz (grasping, obstinate, steadfast, stiff, stubborn, sturdy, tough, unrelenting). (various references)

Swedish

envis (be obstinate, contrary, cussed, dogged, dour, headstrong, inflexible, insistent, obstinate, ornery, persistent, pertinacious, stubborn, tough, unrelenting, wilful, wrongheaded). (various references)

Thai

เหนียว (gluey, glutinous, sticky, tacky, thick), ที่ไม่ยอมง่ายๆ. (various references)

Turkish

yapışkan (adherent, adhesive, agglutinate, clamant, clammy, clinging, clingy, cohesive, gluey, glutinous, greasy, gummy, like a limpet, mucilaginous, ropy, sticking, sticky, viscid, viscous), vazgeçmeyen (stubborn), sıkı sıkı sarılmış, kuvvetli (Doughty, energetic, forceful, heady, healty, hearty, intense, lusty, mighty, muscular, potent, powered, powerful, retentive, robust, rugged, sappy, sinewed, sinewy, sound, stalwart, stout, strong, swinging, vigorous, virile, virulent), inatçı (balky, bullet-head, bull-headed, cantankerous, contrary, contumacious, cussed, die hard, difficult, dogged, dour, fractious, hard bitten, hard-headed, hard-mouthed, hard-nosed, headstrong, heady, indocile, inflexible, insistent, intractable, mule, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, obstinate person, opinionated, persistent, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, restive, self willed, self-opinionated, set, spiky, stern, sticker, stickler, sticky, stiff necked, strongheaded, strong-willed, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded). (various references)

Ukrainian

чіпкий (grasping, retentive), клейкий (adherent, adhesive, agglutinative, clammy, gluey, glutinous, gooey, gummy, mucilaginous, tacky, viscid, viscous), наполегливий (aggressive, emphatic, emphatical, importune, insistent, obstinate, patient, perseverant, persevering, persistent, pressing, sedulous, unremitting, urgent), міцний (abiding, able bodied, bastard, beefy, buirdly, deep, endurable, enduring, entrenched, fast, firm, full-bodied, lasting, lusty, oaky, racy, sledge hammer, stable, stalwart, staunch, stiff, stout, strong, sturdy, substantial, substantive, tough, wakeless, well knit). (various references)

Vietnamese 

ngoan cường, ngoan cố (bullet-headed, dyed-in-the-wool, froward, opinionated, pertaincious, recalcitrant, unadvisable), kiên trì gan lì, dẻo dai (gaff), dai (tough), bền (close, durable, resistant, stable, strong), bám chặt bền bỉ. (various references)

Welsh

gafaelgar (gripping). (various references)

tenaci, tenax. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "tenacious": tenaciously, tenaciousness, tenaciousnesses. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Tenacious" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: menacious, tanacious, tenacios, tenacuious, tenaious, tenanious, tenasious, tenatious, tendacious. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: aconites, auctions, canoeist, cautions, counties, sonicate.

-2 letters: acetins, acetous, acinose, acinous, aconite, actions, atonics, atonies, auction, aunties, cations, caution, cineast, conatus, contuse, coteaus, notices, nutcase, octanes, section, sinuate, soutane, suction, toucans, tunicae.

-3 letters: acetin, acinus, actins, action, acutes, aeonic, antics, ascent, atones, atonic, auntie, canoes, cantos, cantus, casein, casino, cation, centai, centas, centos.

+1 letter: educations, inoculates, inosculate.

+2 letters: aeronautics, auctioneers, contumacies, decussation, enunciators, eructations, evacuations, glauconites, inosculated, inosculates, novaculites, nucleations, outdistance, peculations, precautions, speculation, tenaciously, ulcerations.

+3 letters: anticonsumer, antinucleons, captiousness, carburetions, cautiousness, coeducations, communicates, consultative, consummative, continuances, counterraids, counterstain, countervails, crenulations, cupellations, decussations, discountable, educationese, educationist, ejaculations, elucidations, emasculation, encrustation, enucleations, enunciations, equinoctials, euchromatins, exculpations, factiousness, fecundations, mercurations, miseducation, nucleotidase, outdistanced, outdistances, overcautions, pectinaceous, pertinacious, postulancies, reeducations, reinoculates, reluctations, speculations, stupefaction, tumefactions, unassociated, unsanctioned, vesiculation.