Meaning & use
gritty
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableapproving
Showing steady courage and a refusal to give up when things are hard.
Grammar: Can follow be or come before a noun: a gritty performance.
Patterns
- a gritty performance
- gritty determination
The gritty goalkeeper played on despite an injured hand.
It was a gritty win on a freezing night.
She showed gritty resolve during the long recovery.
adjectivecomparable
Containing or feeling like tiny hard particles of sand or dirt.
Grammar: Describes texture: gritty soup, gritty eyes.
The coffee was gritty at the bottom of the cup.
My eyes felt gritty after the long flight.
The wind left a gritty film on the windows.
adjectivecomparable
Showing harsh, realistic life without making it seem prettier than it is.
Grammar: Often describes films, books or city life: a gritty drama.
Patterns
- a gritty portrayal of something
The series is a gritty portrayal of life in a port city.
He prefers gritty crime novels to cozy mysteries.
The photographs give a gritty view of factory work.
Word forms
| comparative | grittier |
|---|---|
| superlative | grittiest |
Common combinations
- gritty determination
- Her gritty determination carried her to the finish.
- gritty realism
- The film is praised for its gritty realism.
- gritty drama
- We watched a gritty drama about a police detective.
- gritty texture
- The scrub has a gritty texture that removes dirt.
- gritty performance
- The team put in a gritty performance away from home.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tough
- Tough is broader and can describe strength of body or difficulty, while gritty focuses on stubborn willpower or harsh realism.
- plucky
- Plucky suggests cheerful bravery from a smaller or weaker person, so it sounds lighter than gritty.
- sandy
- Sandy describes sand-like texture only, with no sense of courage or harshness.
- raw
- Raw as a description of art suggests unpolished emotion, while gritty suggests realistic hardship.
Opposites
Word family
- grit noun
- tiny hard particles, or courage and determination
- grittiness noun
- the quality of being gritty
- grittily adverb
- in a determined or harsh way
- grit verb
- to clench your teeth, as in grit your teeth
Commonly confused: gritty or greedy?
gritty vs greedy
Greedy means wanting too much and has nothing to do with courage or texture, though the first letters look similar.
Practice
A critic calls a film 'gritty.' What does she most likely mean?
Choose one answer.
Applied to films, gritty means realistic and unsparing; desert filming would be a literal misreading.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gritty”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.