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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
Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 5 Dec. 2025
Fans have also discovered the band from placement of its music on Landman, Taylor Sheridan’s gritty Paramount + series starring Billy Bob Thornton about oil drilling in West Texas.
—Melinda Newman, Billboard, 5 Dec. 2025
His gritty steal after a Cavs defensive rebound and subsequent free throws shifted momentum back toward Boston after Cleveland dominated the final minutes of the third quarter and opening stretch of the fourth.
—Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 4 Dec. 2025
Regardless of who's leading Auburn's defensive unit in 2026, Golesh plans to roll out one of the grittiest teams in college football.
—Matt Audilet, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Dec. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Gritty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gritty. Accessed 14 Dec. 2025.
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