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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tenacity

Tenacity \Te*nac"i*ty\, n. [L. tenacitas: cf. F. t['e]nacit['e]. See Tenacious.]

  1. The quality or state of being tenacious; as, tenacity, or retentiveness, of memory; tenacity, or persistency, of purpose.

  2. That quality of bodies which keeps them from parting without considerable force; cohesiveness; the effect of attraction; -- as distinguished from brittleness, fragility, mobility, etc.

  3. That quality of bodies which makes them adhere to other bodies; adhesiveness; viscosity.
    --Holland.

  4. (Physics) 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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
tenacity

early 15c., from Middle French ténacité (14c.) and directly from Latin tenacitas "an act of holding fast," from tenax (genitive tenacis) "holding fast, gripping, clingy; firm, steadfast," from tenere "to hold" (see tenet).

Wiktionary
tenacity

n. 1 The quality or state of being tenacious; as, tenacity, or retentiveness, of memory; tenacity, or persistency, of purpose. 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.

WordNet
tenacity

n. persistent determination [syn: doggedness, perseverance, persistence, persistency, tenaciousness, pertinacity]

Wikipedia
Tenacity (mineralogy)

In mineralogy, tenacity is a mineral's behavior when deformed or broken.

Tenacity

Tenacity may refer to:

  • Tenacity (mineralogy)
  • Tenacity (textile strength)
  • Tenacity (non-profit)

Usage examples of "tenacity".

His father seemed privately pleased that Bink had shown so much courage and tenacity in adversity, even in his wrongdoing.

Special Agent Nancy Floyd and Fire Marshal Ronnie Bucca never met, but they shared a number of qualities, including tenacity and heart.

Both indurated by early domestic training and an inherited tenacity of heterodox resistance professed their disbelief in many orthodox religious, national, social and ethical doctrines.

But Lady Kori went at it with her now familiar tenacity, and when no return signal was received, they moved on to another wormhole and another system to try again.

It proved the tenacity of her purpose and the strength of her will that, notwithstanding her many misgivings, when she heard the clock sound the quarter she rose from her low seat by the window, where she had been gazing out into the night, and whispered softly to Moppet that it was time to wake.

If he escaped them, if he had the tenacity and cunning to survive the blizzards that raked the cruel wilds, he would find no rest and no respite.

But his tenacity to them, as well as his subsequent affiliation with Schelling, was short-lived.

It denotes greater vigor of constitution, one that continually generates volitive forces, and its persistency of purpose may be interpreted as functional tenacity.

He was an invaluable bloodhound, a man whose homely looks and cockney speech gave no indi cation of his shrewdness and tenacity.

He was 133 fortunate enough to touch it with his fingers, and he clutched it with gleeful tenacity Merel Zabio let out a mighty cheer mighty enough to have brought a horde of avengers hurtling towards them had there not been so many other voices trying to out-scream one another.

They hammered into the Entient from all sides, clearly prepared to make short work of him, and Ranunculus knew in that instant that he was going to pay a price for underestimating their skill and tenacity.

Later on they became more generous, but they clung with tenacity to the Brown Scapular and the First Sunday of the month.

Upon the observer there was impressed the conviction that here was a skull denoting, by surplusage of length, great precision of character and disposition to action, and, by deficiency of breadth, a narrow tenacity which might at times amount to wrong-headedness.

It also, usually, grows well on soils underlaid with yellow clay of more or less tenacity.

The weight of the armored soldiers pushed the Archai back, but the twin forelimbs and suicidal tenacity of the insect warriors made them terrible opponents in a close-quarter fight like this one.