Tenaciously
What it means
With persistent determination despite resistance or setbacks.
Reach for it when describing how someone keeps pursuing a worthwhile aim over time
The archivist tenaciously traced each anonymous photograph back to a family.
Words to choose between 7
| everyday |
|
|---|---|
| warm | |
| professional | |
| formal | |
| literary |
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everyday
Fits when continued effort is the plain fact
Careful Persistently can describe unwelcome repetition and lacks the praise carried here.
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warm
Fits when firm intention is more important than duration
Careful Determinedly does not prove the person adapted through repeated obstacles.
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warm
Fits when loyalty or constancy matters alongside effort
Careful Steadfastly suits stable support better than active pursuit.
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professional
relentlessly
Fits when pressure or activity never eases
Careful Relentlessly can sound punishing, hostile, or unhealthy rather than admirable.
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formal
Fits when unwavering commitment should sound dignified
Careful Resolutely is too solemn for cheerful trial and error.
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literary
Fits when grim continuation through difficulty is the image
Careful Doggedly can make flexible, inventive work sound mechanical.
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literary
indefatigably
Fits when apparently tireless effort warrants elevated language
Careful The rare word emphasizes energy more than attachment to one objective.
Opposites 3
- halfheartedly
- fitfully
- irresolutely
Common phrases 3
-
work tenaciously
The legal team continued to work tenaciously after the first appeal failed.
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tenaciously pursue
Investigators tenaciously pursue the paper trail without assuming guilt.
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hold tenaciously
The roots hold tenaciously to the narrow strip of soil.
Word family 1
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vealhurl, Southern England accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated