tenacity

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

From Latin tenācitās.

[edit] Noun

tenacity (plural tenacities)

1. The quality or state of being tenacious; as, tenacity, or retentiveness, of memory; tenacity, or persistency, of purpose.
   • 2009, Jorge Cham, PHD Comics: Softball: younger and faster

     — Our opponents may be younger, faster and less out of shape than we are, but we have something they’ll never have!

     — Tenure?

     — Tenacity!

2. The quality of bodies which keeps them from parting without considerable force; cohesiveness; the effect of attraction; – as distinguished from brittleness, fragility, mobility, etc.
3. The quality of bodies which makes them adhere to other bodies; adhesiveness; viscosity.
4. The greatest longitudinal stress a substance can bear without tearing asunder, – usually expressed with reference to a unit area of the cross section of the substance, as the number of pounds per square inch, or kilograms per square centimeter, necessary to produce rupture.

[edit] Synonyms

• (state of being tenacious): retentiveness, persistency
• (quality keeping bodies together): cohesiveness
• (quality making bodies adhere): adhesiveness, viscosity

[edit] Antonyms

• (quality keeping bodies together): brittleness, fragility, mobility

[edit] Translations