tenet

[ten-it; British also tee-nit]

See more synonyms for tenet on Thesaurus.com

noun

any opinion, principle, doctrine, dogma, etc., especially one held as true by members of a profession, group, or movement.

Origin of tenet

1590–1600; < Latin: he holds

Can be confusedtenant tenet

Synonyms for tenet

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belief, position.

Pronunciation note

The word tenet , defined here, should not be hard to pronounce. For speakers of American English, say the number ten, then add the pronoun it , and you have tenet , pronounced (ten ʹ it). Unfortunately, there is a similar-looking and similar-sounding word in English that is much more common—the word tenant , meaning someone who rents and occupies an apartment, office, etc. This word is pronounced (ten ʹ ənt), and its pronunciation is frequently used in error by people who intend to say tenet . Because both words involve sequences of the same letters t and n —both of which are pronounced with the tongue in the same place, touching the upper palate—it is easy for the extra n of the more common word tenant to creep into the pronunciation of tenet . With care, one can learn to pronounce these two words differently and appropriately.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for tenet

faith, credo, presumption, creed, precept, dogma, assumption, doctrine, teaching, impression, persuasion, conception, conviction, canon, profession, system, rule, maxim, thesis, position

Examples from the Web for tenet

Contemporary Examples of tenet

Charter schools, rejecting the tenet of promotion through seniority, promised to do better.
Your Local School Doesn’t Have to Suck
Michael S. Roth
December 17, 2014
When asked about the remarks, Tenet said he never said it and suggested the note taker in the meeting got it wrong.
Ex-Chief: CIA Investigation Could Be Construed as Anti-Semitic
Eli Lake
April 23, 2012
Tenet had wanted to evacuate the center, but Black rebuffed him.
Meet Mitt Romney’s Trusted Envoy to the Dark Side, Cofer Black
Eli Lake
April 11, 2012
"Well, they could die," Tenet remembers telling Black about his staff.
Meet Mitt Romney’s Trusted Envoy to the Dark Side, Cofer Black
Eli Lake
April 11, 2012
An accountability board, the summary recommended, should review the work of named officers, including former director Tenet.
A CIA 9/11 Cover-Up?
Anthony Summers, Robbyn Swan
August 12, 2011

Historical Examples of tenet

He was as unconscious, almost, as he had been back there in Tenet's cabin after his fall.
Mayflower (Flor de mayo)
Vicente Blasco Ibez
Was it something in a cast of character or a tenet of a creed, or was it what any one could emulate?
The Letter of the Contract
Basil King
The tenet of predestination was the keystone of his religion.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.
Thomas Babington Macaulay
This tenet of his religion he infused in some measure into all his novels.
Australian Writers
Desmond Byrne
You will be surprised to know that many an Islamic tenet is entirely in accord with it.
Notes on Islam
Ahmed Hussain

British Dictionary definitions for tenet

tenet

noun

a belief, opinion, or dogma

Word Origin for tenet

C17: from Latin, literally: he (it) holds, from tenēre to hold

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tenet

"principle," properly "a thing held (to be true)," early 15c., from Latin tenet "he holds," third person singular present indicative of tenere "to hold, to keep, to maintain" from PIE root *ten- "to stretch" (cf. Sanskrit tantram "loom," tanoti "stretches, lasts;" Persian tar "string;" Lithuanian tankus "compact," i.e. "tightened;" Greek teinein "to stretch," tasis "a stretching, tension," tenos "sinew," tetanos "stiff, rigid," tonos "string," hence "sound, pitch;" Latin tendere "to stretch," tenuis "thin, rare, fine;" Old Church Slavonic tento "cord;" Old English thynne "thin"). Connection notion between "stretch" and "hold" is "to cause to maintain." The modern sense is probably because tenet was used in Medieval Latin to introduce a statement of doctrine.