tenuity

[ tuh-noo-i-tee, -nyoo-, te- ]

noun

1. the state of being tenuous.
2. slenderness.
3. thinness of consistency; rarefied condition.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tenuity¹

1525–35; < Latin tenuitās thinness, equivalent to tenui ( s ) ( tenuis ) + -tās -ty ²

Example Sentences

In this media the comets act as scavengers, preventing any accumulations of ether, and keeping it in such a proper and equable state of tenuity that the forces of nature—as gravity, electricity and light—always act with regularity and precision.”

From Scientific American

As if the surface of the water had had a tenuity without abating a jot of its crystal clearness, the smooth V from the bows seemed to shear through something that, even when the water settled to rest again, did not return; there fled at each stroke an intact perfection.

From Project Gutenberg

In spite of the tenuity of my purse I felt obliged to give my friends this mark of my gratitude for the kindness they had lavished on me.

From Project Gutenberg

In proportion to the tenuity to which my ideas had been drawn, and my abstinence from ornament and sensible objects, was the tenaciousness with which actual circumstances and picturesque imagery laid hold of my mind, when I turned my attention to them, or had to look round for illustrations.

From Project Gutenberg

That they should be completely transparent through such enormous dimensions shows their extreme tenuity.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• elegance
• fragility
• lightness
• subtlety
• tenderness