Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

pragmatic

UK/pɹæɡˈmætɪk/US/pɹæɡˈmætɪk/
adjectiveC12 meaningsOccasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,093 of 15,258leans written

Pragmatic means choosing what works in practice over what sounds right in principle. A pragmatic approach, a pragmatic decision, being pragmatic about the budget.

It is usually a compliment, and specifically a compliment for setting an ideal aside. That is why it is common in politics and business writing, where a pragmatic solution is one nobody is proud of and everybody accepts. Note the difference from practical, which describes something that works; pragmatic describes a person or an approach that prioritises working. In philosophy, pragmatism is a specific school of thought, and in linguistics pragmatics is the study of meaning in context — both technical and neither dismissive.

Definitions of pragmatic

  1. 1adjectivepragmaticChoosing what works rather than what is ideal.C1

    “It was a pragmatic decision and nobody liked it much.”

    synonyms: practical, realistic, hard-headed

  2. 2adjectiverelatingRelating to the philosophy of pragmatism.C2

    “The chapter takes a pragmatic view of truth.”

pragmatic is an approach to decisions.

Also accepted in games: practical

Where it comes from

Greek pragmatikos meant versed in affairs, from pragma, a deed or a thing done. The Latin sense narrowed to somebody skilled in law and business, and English kept the practical, hands-on flavour all the way through.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *per- (fare)

  2. Ancient Greek

    πραγματικός — active, versed in affairs

  3. Latin

    pragmaticus — relating to civil affair; in Latin, as a noun, a person versed in the law who furnished arguments and points to advocates and orators, a kind of attorney

  4. Middle French

    pragmatique

  5. English, today

    pragmatic

Built from

  • πρᾶγμα · Ancient Greek — a thing done, a fact
  • πράγματα · Ancient Greek — affairs, state affairs, public business, etc.
  • πράσσω · Ancient Greek — to do

From Middle French pragmatique, from Latin pragmaticus (“relating to civil affair; in Latin, as a noun, a person versed in the law who furnished arguments and points to advocates and orators, a kind of attorney”), from Ancient Greek πραγματικός (“active, versed in affairs”), from πρᾶγμα (“a thing done, a fact”), in plural πράγματα (“affairs, state affairs, public business, etc.”), from πράσσω (“to do”) (whence English practical).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Feelings & Character, Sharper Adjectives

Practise this word