Did you know?
Gritty comes from grit ("small hard granules"), which in turn derives, via Middle English, from an Old English word for "sand" or "gravel." Grit has been around since before the 12th century, but the first appearance of gritty in print in English was near the end of the 16th century, when it was used in the sense of "resembling or containing small hard granules." Grit entered American slang with the meaning "courage or persistence" in the early 19th century, and gritty followed suit with a corresponding "plucky" sense. By the 19th century's end, gritty was also being used to describe a literary style that was rough and coarse.
Examples of gritty in a Sentence
Joseph Person, New York Times, 1 Aug. 2025
Celebrate The Tradition Of Red Dirt Music Stillwater is considered the home of Red Dirt music, a gritty blend of rebel country, bluegrass, rock, and storytelling.
—Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 31 July 2025
The extremely funny opening scene, prominently featured in the trailers, has Frank foiling a gritty, Dark Knight–style bank robbery by posing as a tiny little schoolgirl.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 30 July 2025
In Southern California, Moses Heredia is working to redefine this landscape by opening up opportunities for gritty businesses.
—Jon Stojan, USA Today, 29 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for gritty
Cite this Entry
“Gritty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gritty. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share