tenuous

English

Etymology

Irregularly formed from Latin tenuis (“thin, slight”) +‎ -ous. Compare tenuious.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛn.juː.əs/
• Rhymes: -ɛnjuːəs

Adjective

tenuous (comparative more tenuous, superlative most tenuous)

1. Thin in substance or consistency.

   The aether was thought to be of tenuous strands.

   Far from being amicable, the numbers seemed to turn their backs on each other, and I couldn't find a pair with even the most tenuous connection.

2. Insubstantial.

   His argument was not convincing in the debate, considering how tenuous it was.

   • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises[1]

     Picking up eight years after The Dark Knight left off, the film finds Gotham enjoying a tenuous peace based on Harvey Dent’s moral ideals rather than the ugly truth of his demise.

Synonyms

• (thin in substance or consistency): delicate, gossamer; See also Thesaurus:fragile
• (insubstantial): ethereal; See also Thesaurus:insubstantial

Derived terms

• tenuously
• tenuousness

 

Related terms

• attenuate
• extenuate
• tenuities
• tenuity

 

Translations

thin in substance or consistency

• Catalan: tènue m or f
• Dutch: onbelangrijk (nl), dunnetjes (nl)
• Finnish: hatara (fi), puutteellinen (fi)
• French: ténu (fr)
• German: ^{(please verify)} nicht stichhaltig , dünn (de), prekär (de), heikel (de), dürftig (de), fein (de), zart (de), schlank (de), klein (de), spärlich (de), unsicher (de), verdünnt (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: ténue (pt) (Portugal), tênue (pt) (Brazil)
• Russian: то́нкий (ru) (tónkij), жи́дкий (ru) (žídkij)
• Spanish: tenue (es)
• Walloon: tene (wa) m or f

insubstantial

• German: schwach (de), dürftig (de), nicht stichhaltig, unwesentlich (de), unbedeutend (de), angreifbar (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: несуще́ственный (ru) m (nesuščéstvennyj), несуще́ственная (ru) f (nesuščéstvennaja), несуще́ственное (ru) n (nesuščéstvennoje)