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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This rare unity across the aisle in the wake of a horrible tragedy left TMZ, the popular entertainment news platform known for its tenacity and deluge of scoops, on the defensive about the on-air snickering.—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 12 Sep. 2025 So, how did Cooke appreciate or value Cherry’s tenacity in that way?—Jeff Conway, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025 But the tenacity of Kyiv’s forces in holding back the Russian summer offensive has been a remarkable outlier, and wider Russian progress remains a fierce possibility in the weeks ahead.—Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2025 Ingelsby infused both Mare and Task with flourishes from his east-Pennsylvania homeland, and the show reflects the grit and tenacity of individuals from the area.—Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Sep. 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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