tenuousness

adjective

1. thin or slender in form, as a thread.
2. lacking a sound basis, as reasoning; unsubstantiated; weak: a tenuous argument.
3. thin in consistency; rare or rarefied.
4. of slight importance or significance; unsubstantial: He holds a rather tenuous position in history.
5. lacking in clarity; vague: He gave a rather tenuous account of his past life.

adjective

1. insignificant or flimsya tenuous argument
2. slim, fine, or delicatea tenuous thread
3. diluted or rarefied in consistency or densitya tenuous fluid

adj.1590s, irregularly formed from Latin tenuis “thin,” from PIE root *ten- “to stretch” (cf. Sanskrit tanuh “thin,” literally “stretched out;” see tenet) + -ous. The correct form with respect to the Latin is tenuious. The sense of “having slight importance, not substantial” is found from c.1817.