pertinacious
adjective
Did you know?
Remove the first syllable of pertinacious and say what remains out loud: you'll hear something that sounds a lot like the word tenacious, meaning "tending to adhere or cling." The similarity between pertinacious and tenacious isn't mere coincidence; both words derive from tenax, the Latin word for "tenacious," and ultimately from the verb tenēre, meaning "to hold." Another descendant of tenēre is tenure, a word that is typically used of the right to hold a job (especially a teaching position) for as long as desired.
Synonyms
- dogged
- insistent
- patient
- persevering
- persistent
- tenacious
Example Sentences
Chris Brennan, Philly.com, 25 June 2018 Word History
Latin pertinac-, pertinax, from per- thoroughly + tenac-, tenax tenacious, from tenēre
1583, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
pertinacious
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- persistent
- insistent
- resolute
- stubborn
- tenacious
- steadfast
- dogged
- persevering
- determined
- relentless
- patient
- staunch
- loyal
- adamant
- true
- constant
- obstinate
- dedicated
- steady
- obdurate
- implacable
- willful
- pigheaded
- unyielding
- mulish
- faithful
- peevish
- resistant
- headstrong
- positive
- bullheaded
- unwavering
- intent
- indurate
- hardened
- hardheaded
- certain
- unfaltering
- unhesitating
- perverse
- opinionated
- unregenerate
- single-minded
- firm
- resolved
- devoted
- good
- wayward
- self-willed
- wilful
- hard
- unbending
- indomitable
- assured
- stiff-necked
- wrongheaded
- stanch
- unconquerable
- unrelenting
- sure
- unflinching
- stern
- inflexible
- hell-bent
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- irresolute
- yielding
- surrendering
- perfidious
- hesitant
- quitting
- faltering
- disloyal
- traitorous
- inconstant
- faithless
- treacherous
- false
- fickle
- wavering
- vacillating
- hesitating
Synonyms & Similar Words
- stubborn
- adamant
- steadfast
- obstinate
- obdurate
- implacable
- intransigent
- wilful
- hardened
- mulish
- unbending
- unyielding
- obsessive
- unrelenting
- uncompromising
- willful
- headstrong
- immovable
- opinionated
- dogged
- inflexible
- pigheaded
- adamantine
- hardheaded
- persistent
- perverse
- bullheaded
- self-willed
- hard
- ossified
- strict
- relentless
- stiff-necked
- hard-nosed
- pat
- self-opinionated
- determined
- tenacious
- inexorable
- inconvincible
- contumacious
- unflinching
- rigid
- stern
- severe
- iron
- defiant
- wayward
- cantankerous
- hidebound
- wrongheaded
- resolved
- deaf to reason
- recalcitrant
- intractable
- uncooperative
- refractory
- insubordinate
- mutinous
- single-minded
- contrary
- disobedient
- stouthearted
- inveterate
- indomitable
- bloody-minded
- unconquerable
- unmanageable
- firm
- unruly
- anal-retentive
- insurgent
- invincible
- ungovernable
- hard-shelled
- narrow-minded
- hard-line
- exacting
- cussed
- unregenerate
- froward
- hell-bent
- hard-shell
- confirmed
- demanding
- set
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- acquiescent
- agreeable
- pliant
- pliable
- obedient
- amenable
- compliant
- docile
- complying
- tractable
- flexible
- submissive
- placable
- yielding
- receptive
- responsive
- reasonable
- willing
- relenting
- accepting
- temperate
- slavish
- persuadable
- subservient
- governable
- manageable
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of pertinacious are dogged, mulish, obstinate, and stubborn. While all these words mean "fixed and unyielding in course or purpose," pertinacious suggests an annoying or irksome persistence.
The synonyms dogged and pertinacious are sometimes interchangeable, but dogged suggests an admirable often tenacious and unwavering persistence.
In some situations, the words mulish and pertinacious are roughly equivalent. However, mulish implies a thoroughly unreasonable obstinacy.
While the synonyms obstinate and pertinacious are close in meaning, obstinate implies usually an unreasonable persistence.
Although the words stubborn and pertinacious have much in common, stubborn implies sturdiness in resisting change which may or may not be admirable.