Word of the Day

: June 25, 2019

gritty

adjective GRIT-ee

What It Means

1 : containing or resembling grit

2 : courageously persistent : plucky

3 : having strong qualities of tough uncompromising realism

gritty in Context

"Unlike a lot of natural deodorants that also use baking soda but have a gritty texture, this stick has a gel-like consistency that doesn't aggravate tender underarm skin." — Kristine Gill, Real Simple, 7 May 2019

"[John] Singleton was nominated for two Oscars—Best Director and Best Original Screenplay—for Boyz n the Hood…. The gritty tale of gangs in South Central Los Angeles marked the acting debuts of Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut, and also starred Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King and Angela Bassett." — Bruce Haring, Deadline, 20 Apr. 2019

Did You Know?

Gritty comes from grit ("small hard granules"), which in turn derives, via Middle English, from an Old English word for "sand" or "gravel." Grit has been around since before the 12th century, but the first appearance of gritty in print in English was near the end of the 16th century, when it was used in the sense of "resembling or containing small hard granules." Grit entered American slang with the meaning "courage or persistence" in the early 19th century, and gritty followed suit with a corresponding "plucky" sense. By the 19th century's end, gritty was also being used to describe a literary style that was rough and coarse.