pragmatic

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Katie ran unopposed in her first election and has since been known as a pragmatic, thoughtful leader on the Burlington City Council.

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Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. adjective Dealing or concerned with facts or actual occurrences; practical.
  2. adjective Philosophy Of or relating to pragmatism.
  3. adjective Relating to or being the study of cause and effect in historical or political events with emphasis on the practical lessons to be learned from them.
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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (43)

  • So whether we have political will or not, as a pragmatic issue we have to eliminate some of the things, or, or this is what I would suggest. —  Southern Voice Local
  • "Expect evangelicalism to look more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church-growth-oriented megachurches that have defined success," claims Spencer. —  WORLD Magazine | Community
  • Katie ran unopposed in her first election and has since been known as a pragmatic, thoughtful leader on the Burlington City Council. —  Mole's Progressive Democrat
  • Obama is being pragmatic, which is to be commended. —  Ed Stoffel
  • Finel rejects this approach in favor of what he calls a pragmatic one. —  Libertarian Blog Place
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin prāgmaticus, skilled in business, from Greek prāgmatikos, from prāgma, prāgmat-, deed, from prāssein, prāg-, to do.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French pragmatique = Spanish pragmático = Portuguese pragmatico = Italian prammatico, pragmatico (cf. D. G. pragmatisch = Swedish Danish pragmatisk), adjective, pragmatic (as a noun, masculine, in def. 1; feminine F. pragmatique = Spanish pragmática, n., = Portuguese pragmatica, n., = Italian prammatica, pragmatica, in def. 3); from Late Latin pragmaticus, relating to civil affairs (pragmatica sanctio or jussio or annotatio or constitutio, a pragmatic sanction, i. e. an imperial decree relating to the affairs of a community, Middle Latin simply pragmatica, a decree); in L., as a noun, a person versed in the law who furnished arguments and points to advocates and orators, a kind of attorney; from Greek πραγματικός, active, versed in affairs, etc., from πρᾶγμα, (later Late Latin pragma), a thing done, a fact, plural πράγματα, affairs, state affairs, public business, etc., from πράσειν (√ πραγ), do: see practic, practice, etc.
 

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/prægˈmætɪk/
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