pertinacity
Americannoun
Synonym Usage
See perseverance.
Etymology
Origin of pertinacity
First recorded in 1495–1505; from Late Latin pertinācitās, for Latin pertinācia “stubbornness, perseverance” (from obsolete pertinacy ), equivalent to pertināci- (stem of pertināx ) “steadfast, stubborn” + -tās noun suffix ( see -ty 2). See per-, tenacity
Explanation
Pertinacity is a quality of sticking with something, no matter what. It's a type of persistent determination. People who have pertinacity won't give up, and they stick with things doggedly. Pursuing a difficult career requires pertinacity. Pertinacity is a mix of courage, conviction, and a little stubbornness. Pertinacity requires a strong will and self-confidence. Pertinacity can also be called perseverance, persistence, and tenaciousness. Pertinacity is related to the word tenacity, which is also a quality that combines determination and commitment.
Vocabulary lists containing pertinacity
Frankenstein
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The Call of the Wild
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"The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe
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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.
In many ways, he was like a north star, his effervescent personality and endearing pertinacity emitting a guiding light through the sport’s most transitional times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2021
Any avant-gardist of this pertinacity should continue to provoke debate.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2017
Barnes’s Shostakovich is less emotionally violent, more lightly sarcastic: “Being a coward required pertinacity, persistence, a refusal to change—which made it, in a way, a kind of courage.”
From The New Yorker ● May 26, 2016
It is only the pertinacity of the mind/body dichotomy that sustains the notion that a sufficient biological account of the brain would be reductionist in the negative sense.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 4, 2010
“Negro” families of relative position and privilege, as mine was, inculcated the values of education, citizenship, and, as one said back then, breeding with a pertinacity that was as anxious as it was authentic.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
