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
Her familiarity with the nitty-gritty of what makes work work eventually led to a director of operations role at San Francisco-venture-capital firm Homebrew.
—
Anne Marie Chaker, WSJ, 7 Nov. 2023
The reviews will tell you the nitty-gritty details that the product description leaves out — like if those socks stay feeling soft AF after multiple washes, or if the backseat in that car feels like a sack of potatoes.
—Rebecca Martinson, Rolling Stone, 26 Sep. 2023
This was a conscious decision made by Lowry, who has shared the nitty-gritty details about her life for years on 16 and Pregnant and later Teen Mom.
—Dory Jackson, Peoplemag, 13 Oct. 2023
His struggle to get out of his head and delve into the nitty-gritty of the art form reflects a frantic desire for inspiration.
—Steven Vargas, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2023
But shows that crack the D.C. code ground their broader stories in authenticity by fixating on the nitty-gritty.
—Eric Schultz, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Aug. 2023
Biden’s speeches seldom get into the nitty-gritty of the content being challenged or how the backlash from conservative activists is putting the profession under duress.
—Jesús Rodríguez, Washington Post, 21 Aug. 2023
Offloading all of the nitty-gritty details to someone else is more appealing than ever.
—Scott Bay, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Aug. 2023
An expert in leveraging numerical computations to answer complex problems, Pflaum is a mathematician at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg who figures out the nitty-gritty realities of how things work, including optical simulations of thin-film solar cells.
—Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 2 Aug. 2023
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Anne Marie Chaker, WSJ, 7 Nov. 2023
The reviews will tell you the nitty-gritty details that the product description leaves out — like if those socks stay feeling soft AF after multiple washes, or if the backseat in that car feels like a sack of potatoes.
—Rebecca Martinson, Rolling Stone, 26 Sep. 2023
This was a conscious decision made by Lowry, who has shared the nitty-gritty details about her life for years on 16 and Pregnant and later Teen Mom.
—Dory Jackson, Peoplemag, 13 Oct. 2023
His struggle to get out of his head and delve into the nitty-gritty of the art form reflects a frantic desire for inspiration.
—Steven Vargas, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2023
But shows that crack the D.C. code ground their broader stories in authenticity by fixating on the nitty-gritty.
—Eric Schultz, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Aug. 2023
Biden’s speeches seldom get into the nitty-gritty of the content being challenged or how the backlash from conservative activists is putting the profession under duress.
—Jesús Rodríguez, Washington Post, 21 Aug. 2023
Offloading all of the nitty-gritty details to someone else is more appealing than ever.
—Scott Bay, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Aug. 2023
An expert in leveraging numerical computations to answer complex problems, Pflaum is a mathematician at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg who figures out the nitty-gritty realities of how things work, including optical simulations of thin-film solar cells.
—Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 2 Aug. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'the nitty-gritty.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“The nitty-gritty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20nitty-gritty. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.
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