Pertinacity

noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state or characteristic of being pertinacious. uncountable, usually

    "1846, Edgar Allen Poe, The Black Cat With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed to increase. It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity which it would be difficult to make the reader comprehend."

  2. 2
    persistent determination wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
doggednesspertinaciousnesstenacityapplicationassiduityassiduousness

Example

More examples

"1846, Edgar Allen Poe, The Black Cat With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed to increase. It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity which it would be difficult to make the reader comprehend."

Etymology

From Middle French pertinacité, from Old French pertinace (“obstinate, stubborn”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.