gritty
Americanadjective
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consisting of, containing, or resembling grit; sandy.
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resolute and courageous; plucky.
adjective
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courageous; hardy; resolute
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of, like, or containing grit
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gritty
Explanation
Gritty things have a rough texture that makes them feel like they're coated with sand. After a day at the beach, you might come home with gritty arms and legs. A baking project involving corn meal might result in a gritty counter and a gritty kitchen floor, and one shake of your dirty dog will leave you with a gritty couch. Grit is a tiny particle of sand or stone, and gritty means "covered in grit." A second meaning of gritty is "showing bravery and spirit." When you stick with something no matter how scary or difficult it is, that's gritty.
Vocabulary lists containing gritty
Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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Baseball in April
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"Earthquake"
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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.
Gone are the gritty warehouse districts, the nocturnal desolation of downtown and the shabby chic of South Beach.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
It’s the reset I reach for when I know groceries are en route and the counters feel a little gritty, a little sticky from a day of recipe testing.
From Salon • May 5, 2026
"Philadelphia is a hardworking, gritty city, a blue-collar city, and we take a lot of pride in that," said Meg Kane, the Philadelphia Soccer 2026 host city executive.
From Barron's • Apr. 29, 2026
Even if Fuqua had made the movie like a gritty documentary, just the entrance of Bubbles the chimp would smack of camp.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026
I’d heard that one all my life—that if a pup didn’t holler when you held him up by the slack hide of his neck, he was sure to turn out to be a gritty one.
From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson
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.
