tenacious means clinging to an object or surface; adhesive. It carries an Arena rating of 1714, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, tenacious ranks #146 of 17,123 for Most Malleable Words, #1,855 of 17,116 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,941 of 17,130 for Most Ingenious Words, #4,403 of 17,125 for Most Incisive Words.
tenacious is pronounced /təˈneɪʃəs/.
Why “tenacious” is a great word
Characterized by a persistent and determined holding fast to something, such as a physical object, a position, or a purpose. From the Latin tenāx, tenāc- ("holding fast, clinging"), from tenēre ("to hold"), + the English suffix -ious. Unlike "stubborn," which implies an obstinate, often unreasonable refusal to change, or "adhesive," which is a purely physical property of sticking, tenacious denotes a deeper, more commendable persistence. It is the knuckle-white grip on a cliff ledge, the roots of a tree slowly splitting a sidewalk, and a forgotten melody's refusal to leave the mind—a deep, unspoken insistence on remaining in a world designed to make us let go.
Etymology
From Latin tenāx (“holding fast, clinging”), from tenēre (“to hold”), + -ious.
adj
- Clinging to an object or surface; adhesive.
- Unwilling to yield or give up; dogged.
- Holding together; cohesive.e.g.“The quagmiry road, trodden into tenacious paste by the long file of human beings ahead […]”
- Having a good memory; retentive.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.