English
pragmatic
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /pɹæɡˈmætɪk/
Adjective

pragmatic

  1. Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.
    The sturdy furniture in the student lounge was pragmatic, but unattractive.
    • Nor indeed are these restrictions pragmatic in nature: i.e. the ill-formedness of the heed-sentences in (60) is entirely different in kind from the oddity of sentences like:
      (61) !That man will eat any car which thinks heʼs stupid
      which is purely pragmatic (i.e. lies in the fact that (61) describes the kind of bizarre situation which just doesnʼt happen in the world we are familiar with, where cars donʼt think, and people donʼt eat cars).
  2. Philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects, rather than with details and circumstances; said of literature.
  3. Interfering in the affairs of others; officious; meddlesome.
Synonyms Antonyms Related terms Translations Noun

pragmatic (plural pragmatics)

  1. A man of business.
  2. A busybody.
  3. A public decree.


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