Definition of "tenuous" []

• Long and thin; slender: tenuous strands. (adjective)
• Having a thin consistency; dilute. (adjective)
• Having little substance; flimsy: a tenuous argument. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Only the ceaseless exercise of power, especially by the weighty “great powers,” might hold contentious states in tenuous equilibrium."
• "Leftwich's prospects for a long-term grasp on the job seemed tenuous from the start, with the Bucs drafting Josh Freeman in the first round."
• "How will you live your life in tenuous circumstances?"