【英语学习】【WOTD】tenacious 释义/词源/示例

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tenacious adj. [tuh-NAY-shus]

adj. 抓紧的；坚决的；(记忆力)强的

Definition

1 a: not easily pulled apart : cohesive
   a: 不容易分离：同义词，cohesive 粘性的，结核性的

   b: tending to adhere or cling especially to another substance
   b：有附着倾向的，尤其是粘附到其他物质上。

2: persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired
2：在维持，坚持，或者寻找有价值的或者想要的物品方面，坚持不懈的

3: retentive
3：记性好的，有保持力的

Did You Know?

For the more than 400 years that tenacious has been a part of the English language, it has adhered closely to its Latin antecedent: tenax, an adjective meaning “tending to hold fast.” Almost from the first, tenacious could suggest either literal adhesion or figurative stick-to-itiveness. Sandburs are tenacious, and so are athletes who don’t let defeat get them down. We use tenacious of a good memory, too — one that has a better than average capacity to hold information. But you can also have too much of a good thing. The addition in Latin of the prefix per- (thoroughly") to tenax led to the English word pertinacious, meaning “perversely persistent.” You might use pertinacious for the likes of rumors and telemarketers, for example.

词源词根演化：tenax (“tending to hold fast”) —> tenacious (adj.)

tenacious这个词在英语中已经“坚守了”超过400年了，也紧密地粘附着它的拉丁祖先：tenax，一个形容词，意思是“倾向于紧紧握着的”。几乎从一开始，tenacious就暗示着字面上的粘附，或者比喻意义上的坚韧不拔。蒺藜草很顽固粘人，但是运动员们更加坚韧不拔，不会被困难打败。我们也用tenacious来形容记忆力强 — 具有比平均水平更能保持信息的能力的人。 对于好事也有可能太过了，在tenax前加上拉丁前缀per- (“完全地”)，产生了英语单词pertinacious，意思是“perversely persistent 顽固不化地倔强（有点贬义了）”。可以对 流言蜚语者或者电话推销员 使用pertinacious这个词贬损他们一下下。

注：stick-to-itiveness：坚韧不拔，毅力，耐力；sandbur：（=sandbunr）蒺藜草；perversely：倔强地；telemarketer：电话推销员

Examples

• Once Linda has decided on a course of action, she can be very tenacious when it comes to seeing it through.
  一旦Linda决定行动路线，就会坚持到底，不完成就决不罢休。

• “The demands on the men were extreme — no sleep, long distance to trek, limited supplies and a tenacious enemy are enough to test the cohesion of even the most disciplined teams.”
  — Capt. Garrison Haning, Army Magazine, 1 Apr. 2019
  对军人的要求是极限的 — 没有睡觉休息，长途跋涉，有限的补给，坚持的敌人，即便是对于最有纪律的队伍，这些也都是对队伍凝聚力的严峻考验。