tenuously
1
8.5
- adverb
- /ˈtɛnjuəsli/
:
tenuemente
- She held on tenuously to her belief that things would get better, even when everything around her suggested otherwise.
- tenuously linked
- only tenuously
- however tenuously
Oh, I thought, I thought, I thought it was because Stephen was tenuously linked to.
- Oh, I thought, I thought, I thought it was because Stephen was tenuously linked to.
Examples
-
Thus Felipa, like Agnes, inherited the leadership of a community somewhat tenuously tied to the Franciscan Order after the death of the house's charismatic founder.
Academic text (2007) -
Although Communist ideology and Marxism are still taught in the schools and universities, they coexist tenuously with an expanding capitalism.
Academic text (1999) -
And that may seem very tenuously connected to the dark matter problem.
-
Now I can start focusing on this lining, which as we saw, was really just tenuously placed on the canvas.
-
The sound of her voice on the phone connects them but only tenuously, on an unsatisfying level.
Blog text (26) -
As outlined above, COIN in Afghanistan is only tenuously linked to counterterrorism, the original purpose of our efforts.
Blog text (17) -
After centuries of clinging tenuously to Europe's periphery, Turkey is now a candidate for membership in the European Union.
Academic text (2000) -
In the absence of evidence from assessments, students could still cling—however tenuously—to their college-student identity.
Academic text (2009) -
When the East Bloc empire went belly-up, the money that had kept the FAUR tenuously alive dried to a trickle and then evaporated altogether.
Fiction book (1996) -
The intellectual roots of Wallerstein's geopolitics and historical sociology can be traced tenuously to nineteenth-century classical Marxism.
Academic text (1993)
Synonyms
816
2.0
To a small degree
68
4.2
Almost not at all or only just
47
2.7
In a way that is only slightly noticeable
10
3.2
With little feeling or energy
1
7.4
In a way that shows little interest
In a weak and unimportant way that gives little real support
In a small amount or number
In a very small, quiet way that is hard to hear
Antonyms
How Strongly
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Tenuously comes from the Latin root tenuis, which means 'thin' or 'slender', so picture a very thin, fragile thread. That's why when something is done tenuously it is done in a very weak or slight way, barely holding together.