tenuious

English

Etymology

From Latin tenuis (“thin, slight”) +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /tɪˈnjuː.i.əs/

Adjective

tenuious (comparative more tenuious, superlative most tenuious)

  1. (archaic) Rare or subtle; tenuous.
    • 1681, Joseph Glanvill, Sadducismus Triumphatus:
      more tenuious Substance , as was above observed , than that very igneous Substance mentioned in the third Proposition
    • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
      A tenuious emanation or continued effluvium, which after some distance retracteth into itself; as is observable in drops of syrups, oil, and seminal viscosities […]

Usage notes
  • Though the correct Latinate formation, this word has been largely supplanted by the irregularly formed tenuous.
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