Tenuous

adjective

/ˈtɛnjuəs/

Very weak, slight, or flimsy; lacking substance, strength, or a firm basis. Most often used of a connection, claim, argument, or grip that is so thin it may not hold or may not really exist.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

The government's defence of the retrospective tax rested on a tenuous reading of the statute, a chain of inference too frail to survive the scrutiny of a constitutional court.

Synonyms

flimsyinsubstantialslightweakfragileshaky

Antonyms

substantialrobustsolidstrong

🌱 Word Family

tenuously (adv), tenuousness (n), tenuity (n), tenuous (adj), attenuate (v)

🔡 Root

Latin tenuis = thin, slender, fine, slight; PIE root ten- = to stretch; -ous = adjectival suffix

📜 Etymology

From Latin tenuis "thin, slender, fine, slight" (from PIE root *ten- "to stretch") + English -ous. The figurative sense "having slight importance, not substantial" is attested in English from 1817.

🧠 Memory Hook

From Latin 'tenuis' (thin) — same root that gives 'thin' a stretched, taut feel; picture a TENUOUS thread stretched so THIN it is about to snap. A 'tenuous' argument is stretched too thin to hold.

🤝 International Relations 📖 Seen in: India's Foreign Policy — Evolution, Do...

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