A tenet is a core principle or belief held by members of a group, originating from Latin meaning 'he/she/it holds'.
A tenet is a principle or belief generally held to be true, especially within a group. The word comes from Latin, where it means 'he/she/it holds', often used to introduce a group's opinions.
Word | tenet |
---|---|
Date | January 20, 2017 |
Type | noun |
Syllables | TEN-ut |
Etymology | In Latin, tenet is the third person singular of the verb tenēre ("to hold") and means "he/she/it holds." It is believed to have been borrowed into English around 1600 from Latin writings in which it often introduced the opinions held by a particular church or sect. There are a good many tenēre descendants in English, including some words that end in -tain (abstain, contain, maintain, and sustain, to name a few), and others that begin with ten- (such as tenable, meaning "capable of being held," and tenacious). |
Examples | According to many, the first tenet of real estate is that location is fundamental to determining the value of a property. "A basic tenet of [Frank Lloyd] Wright's designs was that structures should grow out of the features that are already on the land, that land and buildings should seem an integrated whole." — Linda Charlton, The Daily Commercial (Leesburg, Florida), 20 Dec. 2016 |
Definition | : a principle, belief, or doctrine generally held to be true; especially : one held in common by members of an organization, movement, or profession |
Tags: wordoftheday::noun
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