abrasive particles or granules, as of sand or other small, coarse impurities found in the air, food, water, etc.
firmness of character; indomitable spirit; pluck.
She has a reputation for grit and common sense.
a coarse-grained siliceous rock, usually with sharp, angular grains.
British. gravel.
sand or other fine grainy particles eaten by fowl to aid in digestion.
small hard particles of sand, earth, stone, etc
Also called: gritstone. any coarse sandstone that can be used as a grindstone or millstone
the texture or grain of stone
indomitable courage, toughness, or resolution
engineering an arbitrary measure of the size of abrasive particles used in a grinding wheel or other abrasive process
to clench or grind together (two objects, esp the teeth)
to cover (a surface, such as icy roads) with grit
First recorded before 1000; Middle English gret, griet, grit, Old English grēot; cognate with German Griess, Old Norse grjōt “pebble, boulder”; see grits
Grit is a coarse, gravelly dust. If you don't rinse dried beans before you cook them, you may end up crunching grit between your teeth. Grit is small, sandy pieces of rock or stone. Another way to use the word grit is to mean a determined, courageous attitude. If you have grit, you'll keep trying to climb a rock wall no matter how many times you slip and fall. Charles Portis's 1968 novel "True Grit" tells the story of a young girl in the 1800s who embodies this quality, persevering through extreme difficulty and struggle.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The track fuses West Coast serenity with East Coast grit: Lush keys evoke California’s glow while steady rim clicks and a sticky piano hook capture the rhythm of 1970s New York.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
But more often, Moore has the grit and tenacious determination that it takes to deserve the mother title.
From Salon • May 10, 2026
"I mean, Detroit grit, it's what we've been talking about all year."
From BBC • May 2, 2026
It takes gumption to walk away from a lucrative job and grit to build a startup, but don’t mistake those qualities for self-assuredness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026
Slowly, she blinked away the grit in her eyes and tried to bring her unfamiliar setting into focus.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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.
