gumption
Americannoun
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initiative; aggressiveness; resourcefulness.
With his gumption he'll make a success of himself.
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courage; spunk; guts.
It takes gumption to quit a high-paying job.
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Chiefly British Dialect. common sense; shrewdness.
noun
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common sense or resourcefulness
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initiative or courage
you haven't the gumption to try
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gumption
1710–20; originally Scots
Explanation
If you have gumption, you have guts. People with gumption are determined and full of courage — and common sense, too. If you easily give up, and don't have a lot of confidence or smarts, then you are lacking in gumption. It takes gumption to get things done — especially difficult things. Someone who takes risks without being afraid has gumption. Having gumption is like having "chutzpah." We all could probably use more gumption. Like common sense, it isn't that common.
Vocabulary lists containing gumption
Beowulf
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
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The Glass Castle
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Gumption and resourcefulness are no substitute for working, durable structures.
From The Verge • Aug. 13, 2021
Gumption or no, skeptics perceive an Oedipal element behind the enterprise.
From Time Magazine Archive
It must not be supposed that Messrs Gumption, Gazebee & Gazebee were in the least like the ordinary run of attorneys.
From Doctor Thorne by Trollope, Anthony
Gumption is knowing; but when I say that sum un is gumptious, I mean—though that's more vulgar like—sum un who does not think small beer of hisself.
From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851 by Various
Such was the room which Mr. Fothergill always used in the business house of Messrs. Gumption & Gazebee, in South Audley Street, near to Park Lane.
From Framley Parsonage by Trollope, Anthony
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
