tenuous

Adjective complement with noun phrase

make: The small number of complete vessels known would make any conclusions extremely tenuous.

Infinitive complement

say: The evidence against Tucker is tenuous to say the least.

Modifies a noun

• grasp: Children sometimes have a tenuous grasp of where food comes from, for example the belief that ' chips come from London ' .
• grip: The Imperial Guard and Space Marines are in constant battle to maintain mankind's tenuous grip on survival.
• connection: Some - eg Fred Hoyle - have rather a tenuous connection with our routes.
• link: Even Tony has a tenuous link to Enron I think we would be left with Martin Bell.
• thread: Historical events often come about with a large dose of fluke and a tenuous thread of intention.
• atmosphere: Callisto has a very tenuous atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide.

Modifying Another Word

• somewhat: But, as research analyst Michael Wall points out, the link is somewhat tenuous anyway.
• however: Everyone else is jumping on the World Cup bandwagon, however tenuous their product link is with football.
• rather: Everyone also thought the father, who was a rather tenuous figure, was not fleshed out to any extent.
• increasingly: Charles Clarke's hold on office looks increasingly tenuous.
• fairly: In reality they are usually linked even when the links are fairly tenuous.
• extremely: The small number of complete vessels known would make any conclusions extremely tenuous.

Used with adjective complement

• seem: Here the claimed relationship and rights seem very tenuous.
• remain: But the link between lead and gout remains tenuous.
• become: He felt his grip on reality was becoming increasingly tenuous.
• look: Charles Clarke's hold on office looks increasingly tenuous.
• get: And there are many more, although some possible allegorical meanings may get very tenuous.
• render: Now most means of modern life support have been destroyed or rendered tenuous.