pragmatic

CEFRC1

/pɹæɡˈmætɪk/

adjective · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Dealing with problems in a practical way.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Interfering in the affairs of others; officious; meddlesome.

Examples

  • I agree on an emotional level, but on the pragmatic level I disagree.

  • I have been told that I am pragmatic, and I am.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings
  1. Philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects, rather than with details and circumstances; said of literature.

  2. Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.

noun

Extra meaning
  1. A man of business.

More examples

In context
  • The sturdy furniture in the student lounge was pragmatic, but unattractive.

  • Another increasing concern with both ideological and pragmatic elements related to the situation of wickerworkers.

  • Polybius’s pragmatic history is simply the history of affairs, as distinguished from the descriptive and often poetical character which much history before his time had.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank engineer chose a simple design that worked well instead of a fancy but unreliable one.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle French pragmatique, from Late 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 (pragmatikós, “active, versed in affairs”), from πρᾶγμα (prâgma, “a thing done, a fact”), in plural πράγματα (prágmata, “affairs, state affairs, public business, etc.”), from πράσσω (prássō, “to do”) (whence English practical).