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accanire

to persist doggedly

verb ahk-kah-NEE-reh Rare
Mind & Emotions Attitudes

Also means

to set upon

Usage Note

Accanire (and more commonly its reflexive accanirsi) means to throw oneself at something with fierce, obsessive persistence. Si è accanito contro di lui means he went after him relentlessly. The adjective accanito (e.g. un fumatore accanito — a heavy smoker) is far more frequent in everyday speech than the verb itself.

Examples

"Non devi accanirsi così sul lavoro."

Natural Translation

You shouldn't throw yourself at work so obsessively.

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