Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Informal Boldness of enterprise; initiative or aggressiveness.
- n. Informal Guts; spunk.
- n. Informal Common sense.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Acuteness of the practical understanding; clear, practical common sense; quick perception of the right thing to do under unusual circumstances.
Wiktionary
- n. Energy of mind and body, enthusiasm.
- n. Boldness of enterprise; initiative or aggressiveness, guts; spunk; initiative.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. colloq. Capacity; shrewdness; common sense.
- n. The art of preparing colors.
- n. Megilp.
- n. initiative; resourcefulness.
- n. Courage; guts.
WordNet 3.0
- n. sound practical judgment
- n. fortitude and determination
Etymologies
- Scots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But they hadn't what we call gumption, they put all their capital into one line of business, and you may be sure they swamped the market.”
“And gumption is always welcome (whereas the timorousness of anonymity will be quashed -- c.f. the A-Z of the blog I can't be bothered linking to at the moment).”
“It's been a long time since I've seen a vice presidential nominee with so muchwhat's the word gumption!”
“I've been quiet for a while, going through a number of struggles that have left me without the - in the vernacular of my childhood, the 'gumption' - to keep writing frequently.”
“It just takes some gumption, which is evident in some agencies, if not in others.”
The Huffington Post: Art Brodsky: The FCC's Dangerous 'Let's Make A Deal'
“They talk about gumption and there is even a song called gumption from that movie!”
“While he talks a good game about the businesses he's "built or turned around," his entrepreneurial gumption, which is real, has failed to produce an equal degree of entrepreneurial success.”
“It's hard-wired to operate with typical Beltway gumption, which is why it's failing miserably.”
“This is called gumption: He is the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.”
“GOD BLESS the "ol 'man" may we ALL have the "gumption" to still be going at that age!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gumption’.
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English words of Scots origin
If it's not ...
blackmail, blatant, caddie, caddy, clan, convene, cosy, firth, glamour, gloaming, golf, glengarry and 15 more...
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I am : brave
brave, bold, courageous, audacious, doughty, chivalrous, gallant, gutsy, gumption, plucky, spunky, nerve and 12 more...
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position (dynamic)
( descriptive )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/static
even more:
charismatic, lively, animated, shifting, permeate, wobble, shimmer, sparkle, flex, pizzazz, chaos, fractal and 42 more... -
big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Twitter faves
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
gonk, nerking, guap, gimp, fabulous, dabble, fabilicious, tragic, zooted, hey, cheekini, nugget and 457 more... -
word tank
a couple words
logolepsy, nefarious, quintessential, tintinnabulation, serendipity, rhapsody, palimpsest, panoply, mellifluous, imbue, loquacious, garrulous and 174 more...
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cuzican's Words
lexicon, tirade, innocuous, apathy, narcissist, subtle, agnostic, plethora, malleable, catalyst, pithy, irate and 116 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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timrmortiss's list
compotation, deodand, lignify, obstreperous, noetic, promantia, nostrum, cynosure, sesquipedalian, callipygian, inchoate, hortatory and 93 more...
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Winter's Bone vocabulary
Study list of difficult words from Daniel Woodrell's novel Winter's Bone. In reverse order: start at the bottom to see words from the beginning of the novel!
plaid, lazy susan, lope, furtive, dour, scamper, hard-boiled, implacable, dainty, stomp, resignation, crank and 138 more...
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Rita's List of Words
preliminary, rudimentary, stance, conduit, locale, implicit, vicissitude, empirical, repository, apophthegm, apothegm, invariable and 431 more...
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The Golem's Eye
Words and phrases from Jonathan Stroud's book, The Golem's Eye.
ordure, widdershins, cop, stipple, ostler, struts, minaret, chemise, remonstrate, concussion, wicket, vamoose and 249 more...
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random
words I read but don't know
nascent, proxy, desultory, charlatan, churlish, emaciated, gaudy, shill, lurid, frisson, marauding, plunder and 610 more...
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ifjuly's list
favorite words. some are made up injokes between me and my husband or family.
skein, zaftig, july, bed, orifice, aesthete, ink, parce-que, desormais, cake, pusillanimous, pulse and 531 more...
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DEF's list
Obscure Words
obfuscate, harbinger, morose, meniscus, conspicuous, grandiose, cogitated, matron, erudite, oness, apothegms, assuage and 475 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gumption.
brtom Wonder how he had the gumption to propose to any girl.
Joyce, Ulysses, 6 Dec 31, 2006