Dogged    (pronounced daw-gid) adjective


Definition

stubbornly determined and persistent; tenacious.

(Helpful tip: DOGGED suggests an unwillingness to yield despite discouragement and obstacles. Unlike its synonyms OBSTINATE and STUBBORN, DOGGED is almost always used in admiration.)

Main Example

  • The Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl was killed not just because he was an American and a Jew, but also because he had uncovered evidence of nuclear technology transfers from the ISI--Pakistan's secret service--to a terrorist organization. That is the startling conclusion of French writer Bernard-Henri Levy in his book "Who killed Daniel Pearl." Carrying a French diplomatic passport, and pursuing the story with mind-boggling doggedness, Levy went to places so sinister that only the lionhearted would dare visit.

    Workplace Examples

  • We owe this success to our doggedness, to our not giving up in spite of the myriad setbacks and disappointments we experienced along the way.

  • You picked the right guy for this research. Richard is very dogged: You can bet he will locate every article ever published on the subject.

    Other Examples

  • while presenting an award to an employee, your saying: "It is only because of her dogged determination that we were able to win that Defense Department contract."

  • to doggedly pursue an objective; a stockbroker doggedly working the phones to make a sale

  • someone who remains a dogged optimist in spite of recent reverses

  • the ACLU and other civil liberties groups that are dogged defenders of a person's right to broadcast pornographic and hate material over the Internet

    © 2003 V.J. Singal

    This Month's Other Words

    Insouciant
    Prodigious
    Doctrinal
    Ossified
    Laconic
    Odious
    Lionize

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