Word of the Day
: November 18, 2012pertinacious
playWhat It Means
1 a : adhering resolutely to an opinion, purpose, or design
b : perversely persistent
2 : stubbornly tenacious
pertinacious in Context
He has spent his entire adult life as a pertinacious and unwavering defender of civil rights.
"The 22-year-old paraplegic hasn't let his life-changing accident slow him down. He has branched out to new sports and even continues to snowmobile. He is pertinacious." - From an article by Tom Patrick in Yukon News, August 31, 2012
Did You Know?
If you say "pertinacious" out loud, it might sound familiar. That may be because if you take away the word's first syllable, you're left with something very similar to the word "tenacious," which means "tending to adhere or cling." The similarity between "pertinacious" and "tenacious" isn't mere coincidence; both words derive from "tenax," the Latin word for "tenacious," and ultimately from the verb "tenēre," meaning "to hold." Another descendant of "tenēre" is "tenure," a word that is typically used of the right to hold a job (especially a teaching position) for as long as desired.
Test Your Memory
What Word of the Day from October begins with "s" and can mean "an overabundant supply"? The answer is ...
More Words of the Day
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Apr 30
insouciance
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Apr 29
furtive
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Apr 28
alacrity
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Apr 27
decimate
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Apr 26
nonchalant
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Apr 25
travail