tenuious

English

Etymology

From Latin tenuis (“thin, slight”) +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɪˈnjuː.i.əs/

Adjective

tenuious (comparative more tenuious, superlative most tenuious)

1. (archaic) Rare or subtle; tenuous.
   • 1681, Joseph Glanvill, Sadducismus Triumphatus:

     more tenuious Substance , as was above observed , than that very igneous Substance mentioned in the third Proposition

   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     A tenuious emanation or continued effluvium, which after some distance retracteth into itself; as is observable in drops of syrups, oil, and seminal viscosities […]

Usage notes

• Though the correct Latinate formation, this word has been largely supplanted by the irregularly formed tenuous.