tenacious

WOTD – 28 March 2010, 28 March 2011, 6 November 2015

Etymology

From Latin tenāx (“holding fast, clinging”), from tenēre (“to hold”), +‎ -ious.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /təˈneɪʃəs/
Audio (US): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Rhymes: -eɪʃəs
Hyphenation: tena‧cious

Adjective

tenacious (comparative more tenacious, superlative most tenacious)

Clinging to an object or surface; adhesive.
Unwilling to yield or give up; dogged.
Holding together; cohesive.
- 1873, Henry Morton Stanley, My Kalulu, Prince, King, and Slave:
  The quagmiry road, trodden into tenacious paste by the long file of human beings ahead […]
Having a good memory; retentive.

Synonyms

(clinging to an object or surface): clingsome, sticky; see also Thesaurus:adhesive
(unwilling to yield or give up): pigheaded, steadfast; see also Thesaurus:obstinate
(holding together): coherent; see also Thesaurus:cohesive
(having a good memory): elephantlike, memorious; see also Thesaurus:memorious

Related terms

Translations

clinging to an object or surface; adhesive

Armenian: կպչուն (hy) (kpčʻun), կառչուն (hy) (kaṙčʻun), բռնունակ (bṙnunak)
Azerbaijani: yapışan, yapışqan (az), özlü
Bulgarian: лепкав (bg) (lepkav)
Esperanto: tenaca
Finnish: tarttuva (fi), tarrautuva
German: fest haftend, festklebend (de), klebrig (de)
Icelandic: fastheldinn
Irish: greamúsach
Latin: tenax
Macedonian: ле́плив (lépliv)
Ottoman Turkish: یاپشقان (yapışkan)
Polish: lepki (pl)
Portuguese: aderente (pt), tenaz (pt)
Russian: вя́зкий (ru) (vjázkij), ли́пкий (ru) (lípkij), кле́йкий (ru) (kléjkij)
Spanish: aferrado (es)
Swedish: fasthållande, fasthängande, klibbig (sv), seg (sv), fast (sv)
Turkish: yapışkan (tr), sıkıca tutan
Ukrainian: чіпкий (čipkyj), липкий (lypkyj)

unwilling to yield from a point of view etc; dogged

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: հաստատակամ (hy) (hastatakam), համառ (hy) (hamaṙ)
Azerbaijani: tərs (az), inadkar (az), kəc
Bulgarian: упорит (bg) (uporit)
Catalan: tenaç (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 頑強 / 顽强 (zh) (wánqiáng)
Czech: neústupný (cs), houževnatý, vytrvalý (cs)
Dutch: hardnekkig (nl)
Esperanto: tenaca
Finnish: sitkeä (fi), sinnikäs (fi), itsepintainen (fi), itsepäinen (fi)
French: tenace (fr)
Galician: releón, tenaz, porfiado, teimudo (gl)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: hartnäckig (de), beharrlich (de), zäh (de)
Greek: πεισματάρης (el) (peismatáris)
Hebrew: עיקש (he) (ikésh)
Hungarian: elszánt (hu), kitartó (hu), állhatatos (hu), makacs (hu), szívós (hu)
Icelandic: þrár (is), þolgóður, ötull
Indonesian: ngotot (id)
Japanese: 頑強な (ja) (がんきょうな, gankyō na)
Khmer: ស៊ូ (km) (suu)
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Latin: tenax
Macedonian: у́порен (úporen), жи́лав (žílav), твр́доглав (tvŕdoglav)
Manchu: ᡶᡳᠯᡳ (fili)
Maori: rae pakari, urupū, aumangea, aumangeo
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hardnakket, urokkelig
Ottoman Turkish: یاپشقان (yapışkan)
Polish: uparty (pl), wytrwały (pl), zawzięty (pl)
Portuguese: tenaz (pt), teimoso (pt), porfiado
Russian: упря́мый (ru) (uprjámyj), упо́рный (ru) (upórnyj), насто́йчивый (ru) (nastójčivyj)
Spanish: tenaz (es), tesonero (es)
Sundanese: keukeuh
Swedish: fast (sv), orubblig (sv), hårdnackad (sv), ihärdig (sv), seglivad (sv), ståndaktig (sv)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: inatçı (tr), bildiğinden şaşmaz, dik kafalı
Ukrainian: непоступливий (nepostuplyvyj), наполегливий (napolehlyvyj), впертий (vpertyj)

holding together; cohesive

Czech: soudržný (cs)
Finnish: sitkeä (fi), luja (fi)
German: zusammenhaftend
Icelandic: haldgóður (is)
Polish: spoisty (pl), spójny (pl), zwarty (pl)
Russian: связующий (ru) (svjazujuščij)
Swedish: seg (sv)

having a good memory; retentive

Armenian: ուժեղ (hy) (užeġ)
Finnish: hyvämuistinen (fi)
German: gedächtnisstark
Icelandic: minnisgóður
Malagasy: mahatadidy betsaka
Polish: trwały (pl)
Russian: кре́пкий (ru) (krépkij), це́пкий (ru) (cépkij)
Swedish: säker (sv)

Anagrams

Aceitunos, e-auctions, sauconite