tenuousadj.
/ˈtɛnjuːəs/ 1. Thin or slender in form; of small transverse measure or calibre; slim.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > condition of being long in relation to breadth > slenderness > [adjective]
subtlea1382
subtilea1393
subtilec1392
smiltc1400
fine?a1425
thina1425
exile?1440
slender1444
tenuious1495
jimp?a1513
lenye1513
fine-spuna1555
nice1567
spindled1584
gracile1590
snever1640
tenuous1656
slim1657
gracilious1688
gracilent1727
twittery1819
flitterya1834
attenuate1848
spiry1849
low-profile1906
matchlike1906
slimline1949
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Tenuious, Tenuous,..slender, thin [etc.].
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. ii. 134 The uppermost surface of the Quicksilver..is dilated into a tenuous Column, or Funicle.
1666 J. Smith Γηροκομία Βασιλικὴ (1752) 77 A most tenuous vestment for the humours.
1822 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 12 411 The spider..touches his tenuous line.
2. Thin in physical consistency; sparse; rare, rarified, subtile; unsubstantial.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > lack of density > [adjective]
thin849
subtilea1393
airya1398
subtlea1398
rarea1400
shirec1400
finea1425
solutec1440
intenuate1471
slender1528
ethereal1590
tenuous1597
spare1602
unsolid1611
unsolute1612
tenuious1634
etherical1656
airlike1821
wire-drawn1876
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [adjective]
flittingc1374
aerya1398
bottomlessa1413
hollowa1529
flittering1549
wanzing1571
aerial1581
slight1585
flit1590
windy1593
filmy1594
tenuous1597
unsubstantial1597
yeasty1598
thingless1599
airy1600
spare1602
spongy1603
insubstantial1607
baselessa1616
thina1616
insolid1618
insubstantiate1621
tenuious1634
bubble1635
thin-spun1638
subventaneous1646
unsubstanceda1658
whipped1673
aericala1678
huffy1678
blatherya1693
naughty1696
substanceless1784
vapoury1818
aeriform1827
airified1837
blow-away1858
non-substantial1858
unbased1860
evasive1881
stuffless1896
fabricless1905
lighter-than-air1909
1597 P. Lowe Art Chirurg. (1634) 147 When the vaines are repleat with a tenous blood.
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi v. §2. 177 Their [sc. wind and air] substances being too tenuous to be perceived.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. xvi. 192 Air..is too subtile, too tenuous a substance.
1864 F. Palgrave Hist. Normandy & Eng. IV. 456 Just as a tenuous film of breath, imperceptible to our senses, prevents the globules of mercury from coalescing.
1892 Leisure Hour Aug. 706/1 A very tenuous medium called the ether exists everywhere.
1909 Eng. Rev. Apr. 70 Your dress brushed the shrubs: it was grey and tenuous.
3. figurative. Slender, of slight importance or significance; meagre, weak; flimsy, vague, unsubstantial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > insubstantial
thin?c1225
lighta1413
superficiala1425
sleevelessc1450
frivolous1549
frothy1593
windy1593
shallow1594
airy1600
ghostlessa1603
sleazy1648
tenuious1656
wishy-washy1693
gauzy1774
lathery1803
wish-washy1814
tenuousa1817
toy1821
flimsy1827
airy-fairy1857
facile1857
feeblish1882
popcorn1973
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [adjective] > not specified > indefinite
gross1534
indefinite1561
indefinitive1598
general1601
loose1609
undetermined1611
vaguea1661
indeterminate1773
tenuousa1817
vaguish1818
the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > slight > slight or insubstantial
leanc1325
light1534
rushy1579
slight1585
smattering1589
exile1610
unmassy1665
insubstantial1767
flimsy1780
tenuousa1817
unsubstantial1825
gaseous1846
slimline1973
lite1986
a1817 T. Dwight Theol. (1818) I. xv. 246 A subject, perhaps as tenuous [printed tenuious, and subsequently corrected], as difficult to be fastened upon,..as any.
1858 H. Bushnell Serm. for New Life 312 The tenuous and fickle impulse.
1881 Standard 7 May A more tenuous or unsatisfactory claim could hardly exist.
1903 Speaker 9 May 145/1 The poems of the three somewhat tenuous singers.
1905 Athenæum 5 Aug. 166/1 [They] are sure to live as letters apart from..the tenuous story in which they are set.
Derivatives
ˈtenuously adv. thinly, sparsely.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > lack of density > [adverb]
subtilely?a1425
unsolidly1611
aerially1812
tenuously1892
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adverb]
scarcec1300
smallya1513
sparse1725
sparsely1796
slimly1801
tenuously1892
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being scattered or dispersed > [adverb] > here and there at wide intervals
thinc1405
thinlyc1545
sparsim1587
scatteredly1612
sprinklingly1615
sparse1725
sparsely1796
sporadically1852
tenuously1892
1892 I. Zangwill Big Bow Myst. i When King Fog masses his molecules of carbon in serried squadrons in the City, while he scatters them tenuously in the suburbs.
ˈtenuousness n. thinness, tenuity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [noun] > unsubstantiality or lack of substance
airiness1535
slightnessa1616
wanzingness1642
hollowness1648
insubsistence1651
emptiness1695
dreaminess1796
unsubstantiality1838
insubstantiality1848
aeriality1854
vapourishness1860
tenuousness1901
shimmeriness1913
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > thickness > thinness > [noun]
thinness1577
tenuousness1901
1901 Yorks. Post. 28 Nov. 6/6 The bubble..is better pricked than left to burst of its own tenuousness.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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adj.1597