courage implies firmness of mind and will in the face of danger or extreme difficulty.
the courage to support unpopular causes
mettle suggests an ingrained capacity for meeting strain or difficulty with fortitude and resilience.
a challenge that will test your mettle
spirit also suggests a quality of temperament enabling one to hold one's own or keep up one's morale when opposed or threatened.
her spirit was unbroken by failure
resolution stresses firm determination to achieve one's ends.
the resolution of pioneer women
tenacity adds to resolution implications of stubborn persistence and unwillingness to admit defeat.
held to their beliefs with great tenacity
Examples of tenacity in a Sentence
If there is a particular tenacity in Islamist forms of terrorism today, this is a product not of Islamic scripture but of the current historical circumstance that many Muslims live in places of intense political conflict.—Max Rodenbeck, New York Book Review, 30 Nov. 2006… everything about a person, even the most blameless of facts, can have the sticky tenacity of a secret.—Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2002A tribute to tenacity, the free ascent of Trango Tower was the fulfillment of a cowboy climber's dream.—Todd Skinner, National Geographic, April 1996
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His quick action speaks to his tenacity and his excellence in training and skill.—Greg Norman, FOXNews.com, 21 July 2025 Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn, an alpine skier, showed remarkable tenacity by overcoming multiple injuries and undergoing a partial knee replacement.—Mark Lasota, Forbes.com, 18 July 2025 This in no way detracts from the brilliance of the discovery, but if anything, demonstrates the Indigenous people’s tenacity in developing this technology over many centuries, such was its value in making the Hidden Ones visible.—Literary Hub, 16 July 2025 This exorbitant fee was avoidable — except the voters, unlike politicians, have little tenacity and willpower to fight the good fight.—U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for tenacity
Word History
Etymology
Middle English tenacite, borrowed from Middle French tenacité, borrowed from Latin tenācitāt-, tenācitās, from tenāc-, tenāx "holding fast, tenacious" + -itāt- -itās-ity
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