pragmatism
/ˈpɹaɡmətɪzəm/US/ˈpɹæɡmətɪzəm/
pragmatism noun: the pursuit of practicality over aesthetic qualities; a concentration on facts rather than emotions or ideals.
Noun
pragmatism (countable and uncountable, plural pragmatisms)
- The pursuit of practicality over aesthetic qualities; a concentration on facts rather than emotions or ideals.
- The idea that beliefs are identified with the actions of a believer, and the truth of beliefs with success of those actions in securing a believer's goals; the doctrine that ideas must be looked at in terms of their practical effects and consequences.
- Our conception of these practical consequences is for us the whole of our conception of the object, so far as that conception has positive significance at all. This is the principle of [Charles Sanders] Peirce, the principle of pragmatism.1902, William James, “Lecture XVIII: Philosophy”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 445
- The theory that political problems should be met with practical solutions rather than ideological ones.
- The habit of interfering in other people's affairs; meddlesomeness.
pragmatism meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Kannada
pragmatism in Hindi
- philosophical idea that beliefs are identified with the actions of a believer
- अर्थक्रियावाद arthakriyāvād, व्यावहारिकतावाद vyāvhāriktāvād, प्रयोजनवाद prayojanvād
pragmatism in Tamil
- நடைமுறைநோக்கு, பயனீட்டுவாதம்
pragmatism in Bengali
- বাস্তববাদ, প্রয়োগবাদ
pragmatism in Kannada
- ವ್ಯವಹಾರ ಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತ, ಫಲಪ್ರಮಾಣ ವಾದ, ಪ್ರಾಯೋಗಿಕ ದೃಷ್ಟಿ, ವ್ಯಾವಹಾರಿಕ ಕಾರ್ಯವಿಧಾನ, ಮಾನವ ಹಿತದೃಷ್ಟಿಯಿಂದ ಸಮರ್ಥಿಸುವಿಕೆ
More languagesFewer languages
- pragmatism in Arabic
- بْرَاغْمَاتِيَّة brāḡmātiyya
- pragmatism in Indonesian
- pragmatisme
Examples of pragmatism in a sentence
- To be able to exercise pragmatism, one has to be analytic of the situation.
- In the Cultural Revolution such pragmatism was denounced for neglecting politics and pursuing "capitalist restoration."
- Sixties-style idealism has long since given way to pragmatism.
Antonyms of pragmatism
Forms of pragmatism
| plural | pragmatisms |
|---|
Origin of pragmatism
From Ancient Greek stem of πρᾶγμα (prâgma, “act”) + -ism.
Words formed from pragmatism
Questions about pragmatism
- What does pragmatism mean?
- Pragmatism means the pursuit of practicality over aesthetic qualities; a concentration on facts rather than emotions or ideals.
- What is pragmatism in Hindi?
- Pragmatism in Hindi is अर्थक्रियावाद (arthakriyāvād), व्यावहारिकतावाद (vyāvhāriktāvād), प्रयोजनवाद (prayojanvād). See Pragmatism meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is pragmatism?
- Pragmatism is a noun.
- How do you pronounce pragmatism?
- Pragmatism is pronounced /ˈpɹæɡmətɪzəm/ (US).
- What is the plural of pragmatism?
- The plural of pragmatism is pragmatisms.
Words near pragmatism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pragmatism (page history and authors); pragmatism (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pragmatism (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pragmatism (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pragmatism.wav.
Cite this entry: “pragmatism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pragmatism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.