# tenacity

Pronunciation: US say "tuh-NAS-uh-tee" /təˈnæsəti/; UK say "tuh-NAS-i-tee" /təˈnæs.ɪ.ti/

## Noun

1. The quality of being tenacious: firm persistence in pursuing a purpose and refusing to give it up.
   - Simple: The quality of sticking with a goal and not giving up.
   - _The older players were slower, but they made up for it with sheer tenacity._
   - _It took years of tenacity for the reporter to get the records released._
2. The cohesive quality of a material whose parts hold together and resist separating except under considerable force, as distinct from brittleness or fragility.
   - Simple: The way a material holds together, so that it takes a lot of force to break it apart.
   - _Cast iron lacks the tenacity of wrought iron and can shatter under a sharp blow._
   - _Climbers depend on the tenacity of nylon rope, which holds together under strain that would snap a weaker cord._
3. The quality that makes a substance cling or stick to other things, as an adhesive or viscous material does.
   - Simple: The quality that makes a substance stick to other things it touches.
   - _Workers struggled with the tenacity of the hot tar, which clung to every tool they used._
   - _Gardeners curse the tenacity of heavy clay soil that clings to spades and boots alike._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The greatest lengthwise stress a substance can bear without tearing apart, usually stated as the force per unit of cross-sectional area needed to break it, such as pounds per square inch.

## Origin

Formed from tenac(ious) + -ity, and also from Middle French ténacité, which comes from Latin tenācitās.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/tenacity (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).