Word of the Day

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

tenet

\TEN-it\ , noun;

Any opinion, principle, dogma, belief, or doctrine that a person holds or maintains as true.

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Quotes:

. . .the tenet that all men are created equal and seen as such by the eyes of God.

-- Kaye Gibbons, On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon

This kind of tolerance and receptivity is itself a cardinal tenet of Enlightenment thought.

-- Gary B. Nash, History on Trial

Since the 1950s, the central tenet of US foreign policy and security strategy had been to "contain" the Soviet Union and communist domination and influence.

-- George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed

The central tenet of whig theory was the inevitability of progress.

-- William L. Bird Jr., Better Living

Origin:

Tenet comes from Latin tenet "he holds" (something as true), from tenere, "to hold."