the nitty-gritty

noun

informal
: the most important and basic facts or details about something
He deals with the nitty-gritty of running the department.
Let's get down to the nitty-gritty and find out what happened.

Examples of the nitty-gritty in a Sentence

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Prior to jumping into the nitty-gritty, start with a list of daily to-dos. Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 25 May 2026 Our kitchen experts determined the nitty-gritty details that set them apart. Bestreviews, Mercury News, 20 May 2026 Our data set is very large, and so this is a tool to get into some of the nitty-gritty that isn’t in the case studies. Anne Doran, ARTnews.com, 11 May 2026 One is this series recently published in The Baffler, which explores the nitty-gritty world of how writers make a living. Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 1 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for the nitty-gritty

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“The nitty-gritty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20nitty-gritty. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.

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