Meaning & use
tenacity
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Meaning
noununcountable
The determination to keep working toward a goal despite difficulty, delay, or opposition.
Grammar: Uncountable; common frames are 'show tenacity' and 'the tenacity to do something'.
Patterns
- show tenacity
- the tenacity to do something
- with great tenacity
Her tenacity in the face of rejection finally won her a publishing deal.
The climbers kept going with remarkable tenacity through the storm.
It takes real tenacity to learn a language as an adult.
Common combinations
- show tenacity
- The young scientist showed tenacity after every failed experiment.
- remarkable tenacity
- Recovering the lost data took remarkable tenacity.
- with tenacity
- She worked with tenacity until every customer was served.
- the tenacity to succeed
- Founding a business takes the tenacity to keep going.
Synonyms and how they differ
- perseverance
- The closest match; it emphasizes steady, patient effort over a long period.
- persistence
- More neutral; simply continuing, and it can even annoy others, unlike the mostly positive tenacity.
- determination
- A firm resolve to succeed; tenacity stresses holding on when progress is hardest.
- doggedness
- Stubborn persistence; it can sound negative or dull, while tenacity is usually admired.
Opposites
Word family
- tenacious adjective
- Holding firmly to a goal; not giving up.
- tenaciously adverb
- In a tenacious way; with determination.
Commonly confused: tenacity or tenuous?
tenacity vs tenuous
Tenuous means weak, thin, or slight, as in 'a tenuous connection'; despite the similar spelling it is almost the opposite of the firm grip suggested by tenacity.
Practice
Climbing the final stretch alone, she refused to turn back, showing remarkable ___.
Choose one answer.
Refusing to turn back despite difficulty shows continued effort, which is tenacity. Hesitation and indifference describe giving up or not caring, and fatigue is tiredness, the very obstacle she overcame.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tenacity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.