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

Recent Examples on the Web

Shifting his attention away from the nitty-gritty of his mechanics and toward a more macro approach of harnessing his athleticism while hitting, Swanson is seeing encouraging early production. —Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 21 Apr. 2026

These researchers, tackling the nitty-gritty of civilization, focused on Bulgaria as parasite analysis from this region had never been published. —Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 19 Apr. 2026

Ahead, our experts also get into the nitty-gritty of what to look for and avoid while scanning the web for your next go-to pair. —Katie Decker-Jacoby, StyleCaster, 26 Mar. 2026

The combination of conference expansion and the nitty-gritty methodology behind the NET Rankings don’t bode well for that changing anytime soon. —Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 12 Mar. 2026

Rhymes for the nitty-gritty

• atomicity
• catholicity
• ellipticity
• historicity
• mutuality
• bitty
• city
• ditty
• gritty
• kitty
• nitty
• pity