nitty-gritty
Americannoun
adjective
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fundamental, detailed, or probing.
nitty-gritty questions.
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direct and practical.
nitty-gritty advice; a nitty-gritty system.
noun
Etymology
Origin of nitty-gritty
An Americanism dating back to 1960–65; rhyming compound of uncertain origin
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.
They were just sort of in a, in a very nitty gritty way, trying to solve the problems that were put in front of them.
From Scientific American • Oct. 12, 2023
If you love getting into the nitty gritty of your profession and talking about a subject for two hours, make a podcast.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 18, 2023
Young, a veteran congressional staffer with warm relationships on both sides of the aisle, comes into the debt-limit fight armed with years of experience negotiating the nitty gritty details of federal government spending.
From Seattle Times • May 24, 2023
Seven Fifty gets into the nitty gritty of the production, acknowledging that "alongside a growing range of proprietary technologies, beverage manufacturers employ two primary methods for alcohol removal: reverse osmosis and vacuum distillation."
From Salon • Nov. 11, 2022
"He gets into the nitty gritty, he passes legislation here in Florida that lots of people didn't think could pass in the past until he came along."
From BBC • Nov. 11, 2022
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.