How to Use pragmatism in a Sentence

pragmatism

noun
  • The right person for the job will balance vision with pragmatism.
  • Around town, there is a lot of pragmatism about the project.
    Kevin Rector, Anchorage Daily News, 19 June 2023
  • At home, the test of Mr. Macron’s own pragmatism will come soon.
    Adam Nossiter, New York Times, 30 May 2017
  • As for the Murdochs, cold hard pragmatism will rule the day.
    Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post, 1 Aug. 2022
  • Now a punch of German pragmatism will take a crack at it.
    Tory Newmyer, Washington Post, 26 Apr. 2018
  • The need for pragmatism extends to the topic Milei cares about the most: the economy.
    Bruno Binetti, Foreign Affairs, 4 Dec. 2023
  • This is not to suggest that this is all about pragmatism.
    Roger Trapp, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2024
  • Meanwhile, the sporty pragmatism of a leather Fendi bag scores big points for those tired of plain old totes.
    WSJ, 10 Mar. 2022
  • Lorne’s generous with telling you the black arts of it, the realpolitik of how things get made, the pragmatism.
    Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 4 Dec. 2024
  • In some cases, the removal of heads was pure pragmatism.
    Graham Bowley, New York Times, 12 June 2023
  • The last word sags with fatigue, or maybe a certain pragmatism, pulling Albert and Celie and Steven back down to earth.
    The New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2022
  • They were not roped and tied by ideology when pragmatism was the best path to progress.
    Gov. Butch Otter, idahostatesman, 8 Jan. 2018
  • The same firm that pitched investors on pragmatism this week will be asking investors to bet on wild dreams the next time around.
    Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2019
  • The Bears don't have that luxury, but leave it to Fangio to supply the pragmatism.
    Rich Campbell, chicagotribune.com, 14 May 2017
  • Taken as a whole, though, this was a season infused with a sense of pragmatism.
    Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 26 Jan. 2019
  • The war in Ukraine has smashed the remnants of pragmatism in the Kremlin’s foreign policy.
    Alexander Gabuev, Foreign Affairs, 24 Sep. 2024
  • The centrism and pragmatism that gave Tony Blair's Labour Party a decade in power appears to be gone.
    Luke McGee, CNN, 28 Nov. 2019
  • Davis promised to get down to technical details and called for pragmatism on both sides.
    Nikos Chrysoloras, Bloomberg.com, 25 Sep. 2017
  • Douthat sometimes extends this pragmatism to his critiques of the left.
    Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Of course, this bird feeder offers a lot more than pragmatism.
    Kelsey Mulvey, Southern Living, 19 May 2021
  • But if clean energy is to have a chance, pragmatism and profit motive must rule the day.
    Christopher Helman, Forbes, 27 May 2022
  • Members of the elite class in medieval England were not known for their modesty and pragmatism.
    Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2024
  • The decision was based on pragmatism, not racial progress.
    Christopher L. Gasper, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Aug. 2022
  • In thrall to their progressive base, the Democrats are not grounded by any semblance of pragmatism.
    Jay Cost, National Review, 1 July 2019
  • But Colvin’s life is itself a rebuke to such pragmatism.
    The New York Review of Books, 10 June 2019
  • That kind of pragmatism has stuck with church leaders, said Mason.
    The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 Nov. 2022
  • Her clothes reveal a solid sense of pragmatism — who’s going to wear these things?
    Cathy Horyn, The Cut, 27 Feb. 2018
  • Yet his latest stance evoked a mixture of anger and pragmatism from fellow Democrats.
    Arkansas Online, 16 July 2022
  • School choice offers Democrats a chance to align with public sentiment and demonstrate a commitment to pragmatism over partisanship.
    Juan Rangel, Twin Cities, 22 Jan. 2025
  • Sanderson’s conclusions were grounded in the Chicago School of Economics’ pragmatism.
    Bob Goldsborough, Chicago Tribune, 25 Feb. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pragmatism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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