A.Word.A.Day -- pertinacious

A.Word.A.Day

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Oct 23, 2006

This week's theme
Words to describe people

This week's words
pertinacious
pixilated
oscitant
punctilious
pococurante

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Philosopher, mathematician, and writer, Bertrand Russell once said, "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."

This week's words describe people who fall somewhere in that spectrum. Do any of them remind you of someone you know?

(pur-tin-AY-shuhs)

pertinacious

adjective:
1. Holding resolutely to a purpose, belief, or opinion.
2. Stubbornly unyielding.

From Latin pertinac- pertinax, per- (thoroughly) + tenax (tenacious), from tenere (to hold).

"A man is pertinacious when he defends his folly and trusts too greatly in his own wit."
Geoffrey Chaucer; Canterbury Tales: Explicit Secunda Pars Penitentie; 1387-1400 (Translation: Walter W. Skeat).

See more usage examples of pertinacious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle. -Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

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