entries found for tenacious at Websters.com te·na·cious    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (t-nshs)        adj. Holding or tending to hold persistently to something, such as a point of view. Holding together firmly; cohesive: a tenacious material. Clinging to another object or surface; adhesive: tenacious lint. Tending to retain; retentive: a tenacious memory. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [From Latin tenx, tenc-, holding fast, from tenre, to hold. See ten- in Indo-European Roots.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- te·nacious·ly        adv. te·nacious·ness   n. Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition te·na·cious (t-nshs)        adj. Clinging to another object or surface; adhesive. Holding together firmly; cohesive. Source: The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Main Entry: te·na·cious Pronunciation: t&-'nA-sh&s        Function: adjective tending to adhere or cling especially to another substance : VISCOUS <coughed up 150 cc. of thick tenacious sputum —Journal of the American Medical Association> Source: Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc. tenacious \Te*na"cious\, a. [L. tenax, -acis, from tenere to hold. See Tenable, and cf. Tenace.] 1. Holding fast, or inclined to hold fast; inclined to retain what is in possession; as, men tenacious of their just rights. 2. Apt to retain; retentive; as, a tenacious memory. 3. Having parts apt to adhere to each other; cohesive; tough; as, steel is a tenacious metal; tar is more tenacious than oil. --Sir I. Newton. 4. Apt to adhere to another substance; glutinous; viscous; sticking; adhesive. ``Female feet, too weak to struggle with tenacious clay.'' --Cowper. 5. Niggardly; closefisted; miserly. --Ainsworth. 6. Holding stoutly to one's opinion or purpose; obstinate; stubborn. -- Te*na\"cious*ly, adv. -- Te*na\" cious*ness, n. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. Tenacious        adj 1: stubbornly unyielding; "dogged persistence"; "dour determination"; "the most vocal and pertinacious of all the critics"; "a mind not gifted to discover truth but tenacious to hold it"- T.S.Eliot; "men tenacious of opinion" [syn: bulldog, dogged, dour, pertinacious, unyielding] 2: (of memory) having greater than average range; "a long memory especially for insults"; "a tenacious memory" [syn: long] 3: sticking together; "two coherent sheets"; "tenacious burrs" [syn: coherent]