different between tenuous vs diaphanous

English

Etymology

Irregularly formed from Latin tenuis (“thin, slight”) +? -ous. Compare tenuious.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?n.ju.?s/
• Rhymes: -?nju?s

Adjective

tenuous (comparative more tenuous, superlative most tenuous)

1. Thin in substance or consistency.

   Synonyms: delicate, gossamer; see also Thesaurus:fragile

2. Insubstantial.

   Synonyms: ethereal; see also Thesaurus:insubstantial

   • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises[1]

     Picking up eight years after The Dark Knight left off, the film finds Gotham enjoying a tenuous peace based on Harvey Dent’s moral ideals rather than the ugly truth of his demise.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin diaphanus, from Ancient Greek ???????? (diaphan?s) ('To appear/shine through '; 'dia' - through + 'phaino' - to appear).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /da??æf.?n.?s/

Adjective

diaphanous (comparative more diaphanous, superlative most diaphanous)

1. Transparent or translucent; allowing light to pass through; capable of being seen through.
   • 2004, Gustave Flaubert, Margaret Maulden (translator), Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners, page 98,

     The evening mist, drifting among the leafless poplars, veiled their silhouettes with a violet film, paler and more translucent than the most diaphanous gauze that might have caught in their branches.

2. Of a fine, almost transparent, texture; gossamer; light and insubstantial.
   • 1951, Robert Frost, Unpublished preface to a collection, 2007, Mark Richardson (editor), The Collected Prose of Robert Frost, page 169,

     The most diaphanous wings carry a burden of pollen from flower to flower.

   • 1963, Hermann Weyl, quoted in 1985, Floyd Merrell, Deconstruction Reframed, page 67,

     What is amazing is that "a concept that is created by mind itself, the sequence of integers, the simplest and most diaphanous thing for the constructive mind, assumes a similar aspect of obscurity and deficiency when viewed from the axiomatic angle" (Weyl, 1963, 220).

3. (physics) Isorefractive, having an identical refractive index.

Synonyms

• (allowing light to pass through): translucent, transparent, see-through, sheer
• (of a fine, almost transparent, texture): delicate, insubstantial, sheer

Antonyms

• (transparent or translucent): opaque
• (of a fine, almost transparent, texture): concrete, solid

Related terms

• diaphanously
• diaphanousness

Translations