Tenacious: meaning, example and synonyms
Tenaciousadj. Holding firmly to a purpose or position; persistent and determined.
Example
Tenacious in her search, the paleontologist returned to the same eroding cliff every summer for eleven years until she finally located the bone bed.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- persistent, determined, resolute, dogged
- Antonyms
- irresolute, wavering, faltering, half-hearted
- Memory tip
- Latin tenere = to hold: a tenacious person won't let go.
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Check yourself: Tenacious in context
The ______ reporter spent four years tracking down sources and filing records requests until she finally proved the factory had concealed its waste.
Answer: tenacious. Four years of persistent digging until success describes a tenacious reporter. mundane (ordinary), congruent (consistent) and inimical (harmful) don't fit this context.
Ivy is remarkably ______, clinging to brick walls so firmly with its tiny rootlets that removing it often pulls away the mortar.
Answer: tenacious. Ivy that clings so firmly it pulls mortar away holds on tightly: tenacious. congruent (consistent), sordid (morally vile) and mundane (ordinary) don't fit this context.