pertinacious
Americanadjective
-
holding tenaciously to a purpose, course of action, or opinion; resolute.
- Synonyms:
- persevering
-
stubborn or obstinate.
- Synonyms:
- dogged
-
extremely or objectionably persistent.
a pertinacious salesman from whom I could not escape.
adjective
-
doggedly resolute in purpose or belief; unyielding
-
stubbornly persistent
Other Word Forms
- pertinaciously adverb
- pertinaciousness noun
- pertinacity noun
Etymology
Origin of pertinacious
First recorded in 1620–30; pertinaci(ty) + -ous
Explanation
If you won’t take no for an answer, you’re pertinacious. The same holds true if you stubbornly push on a door despite a sign that says “pull.” Pertinacious means unyielding or perversely persistent. We get pertinacious from the Latin pertinax, which combines per-, "thoroughly," with tenax, "tenacious." You can impress your friends by dropping pertinacious into conversation when referring to anyone who is bullheaded and obstinately stuck in their ways and opinions. If a Girl Scout is a pertinacious salesperson you might buy fifty boxes of Thin Mints when you only wanted one.
Vocabulary lists containing pertinacious
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Resistance is Futile: Synonyms for "Stubborn"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It proved to be an extreme endurance test, and so it figures that James, the pertinacious King of the league, would carry the Los Angeles Lakers past all of the obstacles.
From Washington Post • Oct. 12, 2020
Despite this, the pertinacious ranger does possess the precious commodity of self-knowledge.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 8, 2020
Not even so vital and pertinacious a people could have built this country without the two unique institutions that guided them: the army and the big trade union organization known as Histadrut.
From Time Magazine Archive
Legend has established U. S. vaudevillians as loudmouthed, softhearted, pertinacious vagabonds.
From Time Magazine Archive
They are anything but a phlegmatic people, yet they are obdurate, they are pertinacious, they finish plastering joints.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
