tenet
Americannoun
-
tenets
plural
noun
Pronunciation
The word tenet is often mispronounced as , with an extra /n/ sound in the second syllable—exactly like the word tenant (meaning someone who rents and occupies an apartment, office, etc.). It is a mistake made by people across a wide range of educational backgrounds, because it is such a natural one to make: English has thousands of words that end in the unstressed syllable -ant or -ent, such as parent, accident, potent, and relevant. Moreover, the two sounds at the end of all these words—/n/ and /t/—are very easily made together because we pronounce them with the tongue in the same place, touching the upper palate (or roof) of the mouth. The almost identical-sounding and common word tenant makes it all too easy for the extra /n/ to creep into the second syllable of tenet. Another word that is liable to be mispronounced in a similar way, with an extra /n/ in the second syllable, is pundit. No doubt the first /n/ in both tenet and pundit also influences their mispronunciation. And in pundit, the /d/ sound is another one made in the same place as both /n/ and /t/. Talk about piling on!
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of tenet
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin: “he holds,” 3rd person singular present indicative of tenēre “to hold”; cf. tenant ( def. )
Explanation
A tenet is a principle or belief honored by a person or, more often, a group of people. "Seek pleasure and avoid pain" is a basic tenet of Hedonism. "God exists" is a tenet of most major religions. Tenet is pronounced "ten’it." The word evolved from the Latin tenere "to hold." The noun tenet is an opinion or doctrine one holds. It usually refers to a philosophy or a religion, but it doesn't have to — for instance, Eastern medicine has different tenets from Western medicine. One of the central tenets of succeeding in the workplace is that a good offense is the best defense.
Vocabulary lists containing tenet
Grade 11, List 2
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Back-Words: Palindromes
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1984
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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.
See Examples For:
In fact, a core tenet of Canada's identity is its resistance of US expansionism in the 18th and 19th Centuries, said Tim Foran, a researcher with the Canadian War Museum.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
But Sumrall and Whitt believe in an old-school tenet of the gridiron.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
It’s partially powered by Google’s Gemini model in addition to the company’s own Apple Foundation Models — a departure from Apple’s central tenet of owning, not renting, its core technologies.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
The 9th Circuit brushed aside that logic, saying the Supreme Court had since struck down a key legal tenet of that case.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
The new lab had inherited this tenet from its parent, Ernest Lawrence, who had experienced not a few such mishaps during his career.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
But I think about two core tenets of my faith.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2026
The wording of the final draft to be signed Friday is expected to vary in some respects, but the main tenets and thrust are set, the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
A worksheet given to us asks us to interpret some core tenets, as well as to enter the reading with a question we would like to explore.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
It added that her actions "were a serious departure from the standards expected from a registered nurse" while she "breached fundamental tenets of the profession".
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
Zero clashed with one of the central tenets of Western philosophy, a dictum whose roots were in the number-philosophy of Pythagoras and whose importance came from the paradoxes of Zeno.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
