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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
Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 7 May 2025
The film, gritty and metaphysical in equal measure, also stars Mariela Garriga and Edgar Vittorino, and was produced by Sangre Yoruba AIE in co-production with RTVE.
—Jamie Lang, Variety, 2 May 2025
If only the show, whose subject matter is gritty enough without embellishment, didn’t try so hard to be edgy.
—Judy Berman, Time, 2 May 2025
This is a place of glamour and poverty, gritty and beautiful in equal measure.
—A.o. Scott, New York Times, 30 Apr. 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 21 May. 2025.
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