stick-to-it-iveness

or stick-to-it·ive·ness

[ stik-too-it-iv-nis ]

noun

, Informal.

1. determination and persistence, especially in spite of difficulties; perseverance:

   Call it stubbornness or stick-to-it-iveness, but she eventually won support for the proposal.

Word History and Origins

Origin of stick-to-it-iveness¹

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; from the phrase stick to it + -ive ( def ) + -ness ( def )

Example Sentences

Instead, Gray used the Little Orphan Annie comics to spread the gospel of self-reliance and stick-to-it-iveness—in other words, the individualistic American Dream.

From Slate

It was a stick-to-it-iveness that paid off, especially as he’d worked before with Ortiz, who was given the task by the revival’s director, Lear deBessonet, of finding an actor who could merge soulful identities with a gangly puppet and sing in ensemble numbers with the likes of Sara Bareilles, Brian d’Arcy James and Phillipa Soo.

From Washington Post

Hawk’s stick-to-it-iveness is the stuff of legend — his quest to land the sport’s first 900-degree spin spanned four White House administrations — but his approach to this rehab is, in technical terms, bananas.

From New York Times

Her entire experience took a lot of stick-to-it-iveness, she said.

From Washington Times

What I find interesting is the suffragists’ stick-to-it-iveness — the doggedness and the hard work of pushing the suffrage agenda forward and then recognizing that there were other issues that hadn’t been resolved and moving to the Equal Rights Amendment.

From New York Times