Words / C2

purt-i-NAYSH-uh-s/ˌpɜːtɪˈneɪʃəs/

Pertinacious means stubbornly persistent, especially in a demand or opinion (formal): pertinacious questioning, a pertinacious litigant. Persistent (already in the dictionary) is everyday and not always unkind; tenacious is the close twin. Obstinate is stubborn as a vice. Do not call a dated request for the n pertinacious merely because it is repeated.

Meaning

Stubbornly persistent, especially in a demand or belief (formal).

Examples

• “She was pertinacious about the empty n, and she was right.”
• “Persistent is everyday (already in the dictionary). Tenacious is close. Obstinate is stubborn (unkind). Petulant is sulky (already in C2) — a different vice. Repeating a missing date is not a personality defect. Chasing biscuits is pertinacity in the wrong place. Name the cell; the repetition will stop.”

Good to know

Stubbornly persistent. Everyday: persistent. Close: tenacious. Contrast: obstinate (vice) / petulant (sulk — already in C2). Repeating a date can be right.

Near in meaning

persistent

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