Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use gumption in a sentence

10 example sentences · noun

Gumption means common sense, initiative, resourcefulness. Example: “Whatever the job turned out to be, if it went against her gumptions, she would make sure Gregory would have hell on his hands and make him eager to release her from the deal.”

Examples of gumption by meaning

nounCommon sense, initiative, resourcefulness.

  • Whatever the job turned out to be, if it went against her gumptions, she would make sure Gregory would have hell on his hands and make him eager to release her from the deal.2013 April 29, C. A. McJack, “The Higher Path”, in The Unraveling (Fate’s Twisted Circle; 1), [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 313

nounBoldness of enterprise; aggressiveness or initiative.

  • I think his honesty and his willingness will outweigh his lack of gumption.1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter XXXVIII, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC...

nounEnergy of body and mind, enthusiasm.

  • A person filled with gumption doesn't sit around dissipating and stewing about things.1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, chapter 26, in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William...

More sentences with gumption

  • There are hundreds of different kinds of gumption traps, maybe thousands, maybe millions.1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow &…. From the entry gumption trap
  • I know it seems as though I've stumbled into every kind of gumption trap imaginable.1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow &…. From the entry gumption trap
  • If young people haven't got the gumption to stick a couple of Rizlas together, then we really are all doomed.2012, Ian Marchant, Something of the Night. From the entry king skin
  • The stockman's day has arrived if he only has the gumption to see it and to take advantage of it.1926, W. R. Barber, National Forests and the Public Domain, Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys…. From the entry it's a long road that has no turning
  • Unlike flow, we can feel relative levels of gumption, and when we feel full of it, we can say we are 'gumptious'.2001, Jonathan Rowson, The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, page 92. From the entry gumptious
  • You can't spend months studying the history of the suffrage movement without gaining a new appreciation for the grit and gumption it takes to be a powerful woman leader.2020 August 18, Veronica Chambers, The Staff of The New York Times, Finish The Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for…. From the entry woman
  • In any case, it is my conviction that we need gumption for our spirits every bit as much as we need water for our bodies and neurons for our brains.2001, Jonathan Rowson, The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, page 92. From the entry gumptious

Meaning of gumption

  1. noun Common sense, initiative, resourcefulness.
  2. noun Boldness of enterprise; aggressiveness or initiative.
  3. noun Energy of body and mind, enthusiasm.

Full definition of gumption

Questions about gumption in a sentence

How do you use gumption in a sentence?
Gumption is used as a noun. For example: “Whatever the job turned out to be, if it went against her gumptions, she would make sure Gregory would have hell on his hands and make him eager to release her from the deal.”
What is a short sentence with gumption?
“A person filled with gumption doesn't sit around dissipating and stewing about things.”
What does gumption mean?
Gumption means common sense, initiative, resourcefulness.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gumption (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use gumption in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/gumption. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.