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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pragmatic.

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

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/pɹæɡˈmætɪk/
  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.
  2. Philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects, rather than with details and circumstances; said of literature.

  3. Relating to the field of pragmatics.

  4. Interfering in the affairs of others; officious; meddlesome.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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).

noun/pɹæɡˈmætɪk/
  1. A man of business.

  2. A busybody.

  3. A public decree.

Where this word comes from

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).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.