tenuous
adjective
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What is the Definition of tenuous?
Something tenuous has been stretched thin and might break at any time. A person with a tenuous hold on his sanity should be watched carefully. If a business is only tenuously surviving, it will probably go bankrupt in the next recession. If there seems to be only a tenuous connection between two crimes, it means the investigators have more work to do.
Example Sentences
Anthony Walton, Lure and Loathing, 1993 After the end of the crusading period, however relations between East and West had grown tenuous … Albert Hourani, Islam in European Thought, 1991 The authors follow researchers as they use the slimmest leads and the most tenuous connections to track the genes for Huntington's disease, muscular dystrophy, schizophrenia and a host of other physical and mental miseries. Natalie Angier, New York Times Book Review, 12 Aug. 1990 He has a tenuous grasp on reality. The local theater has had a tenuous existence in recent years. He could demonstrate only a tenuous claim to ownership. See More New York Times, 25 Aug. 2021 On social media, agreements are tenuous and alliances fleeting. Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 30 July 2021 The search is the latest historic development in Trump’s tenuous and tortured relationship with the Justice Department, both during and after his time in the White House. Timothy Bella, Washington Post, 9 Aug. 2022 Biden’s election has bumped us back up to an eight, Marshall said, but a tenuous and unstable eight. Los Angeles Times, 26 June 2022 These are generally negative styles of humor that are mostly based on mockery and ridicule and are correlated with poor mental well-being and tenuous relationships. Mark Travers, Forbes, 24 June 2022 Since the end of the Cold War, Western governments and businesses have been all too willing to trade and invest in countries where the rule of law is absent or tenuous at best. David Kamenetzky And Leopoldo López, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2022 Now, the White Sox must replace both elements without disrupting what was a tenuous but occasionally dominant formula in 2021. Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 6 Apr. 2022 Distant and tenuous are two words that accurately describe his relationship with our parents. Longreads, 21 Mar. 2022 See More Word History
Latin tenuis "fine-drawn, thin, narrow, slight" + -ous — more at thin entry 1
1597, in the meaning defined at sense 3
tenuous
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- fragile
- weak
- shaky
- slight
- feeble
- delicate
- soft
- uncertain
- dubious
- questionable
- problematic
- flimsy
- doubtful
- fine
- unsubstantial
- insubstantial
- suspicious
- problematical
- suspect
- gossamer
- dodgy
- frail
- shady
- frangible
- breakable
- dubitable
- dainty
- eggshell
- doubtable
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- solid
- substantial
- rigid
- hard
- unyielding
- firm
- strong
- elastic
- flexible
- resilient
- stretch
- tough
- springy
- rubbery
- sturdy
- supple
- rubberlike
- unbreakable
- stretchable
- infrangible
- nonbreakable
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of tenuous are slender, slight, slim, and thin. While all these words mean "not thick, broad, abundant, or dense," tenuous implies extreme thinness, sheerness, or lack of substance and firmness.
The meanings of slender and tenuous largely overlap; however, slender implies leanness or spareness often with grace and good proportion.
While in some cases nearly identical to tenuous, slight implies smallness as well as thinness.
The synonyms slim and tenuous are sometimes interchangeable, but slim applies to slenderness that suggests fragility or scantiness.
The words thin and tenuous are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, thin implies comparatively little extension between surfaces or in diameter, or it may imply lack of substance, richness, or abundance.