tenacity

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noun

The quality or state of being stubbornly unyielding: bullheadedness, doggedness, hardheadedness, mulishness, obstinacy, obstinateness, pertinaciousness, pertinacity, perverseness, perversity, pigheadedness, tenaciousness, willfulness. See resist/yield.

n

Definition: diligence, stubbornness
Antonyms: indifference, irresolution, slackness, weakness

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

A certain quality of the human hand in its relation to the coin of the realm. It attains its highest development in the hand of authority and is considered a serviceable equipment for a career in politics. The following illustrative lines were written of a Californian gentleman in high political preferment, who has passed to his accounting:

    Of such tenacity his grip
    That nothing from his hand can slip.
    Well-buttered eels you may o'erwhelm
    In tubs of liquid slippery-elm
    In vain -- from his detaining pinch
    They cannot struggle half an inch!
    'Tis lucky that he so is planned
    That breath he draws not with his hand,
    For if he did, so great his greed
    He'd draw his last with eager speed.
    Nay, that were well, you say.  Not so
    He'd draw but never let it go!

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The lasting effect of a character or flavor nuance. One way of determining a flavor's tenacity is to use a perfume blotter. If a blotter is dipped into a flavor and put aside to evaporate, the aroma that is left after about an hour is called the dry down. A blotter can be sniffed the next day to see if any odor is left. If a character lasts that long, it could be considered tenacious. Tenacious materials tend to predominate the middle and background character of the overall flavor profile. Top notes by definition could not be tenacious.

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See words rhyming with "tenacity."