Pragmatic

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pragmatic \Prag*mat"ic\, Pragmatical \Prag*mat"ic*al\, a. [L.
     pragmaticus busy, active, skilled in business, especially in
     law and state affairs, systematic, Gr. ?, fr. ? a thing done,
     business, fr. ? to do: cf. F. pragmatique. See {Practical}.]
     1. Of or pertaining to business or to affairs; of the nature
        of business; practical; material; businesslike in habit or


        manner.
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              The next day . . . I began to be very pragmatical.
                                                    --Evelyn.
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              We can not always be contemplative, diligent, or
              pragmatical, abroad; but have need of some
              delightful intermissions.             --Milton.
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              Low, pragmatical, earthly views of the gospel.
                                                    --Hare.
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     2. Busy; specifically, busy in an objectionable way;
        officious; fussy and positive; meddlesome. "Pragmatical
        officers of justice." --Sir W. Scott.
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              The fellow grew so pragmatical that he took upon him
              the government of my whole family.    --Arbuthnot.
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     3. Philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects,
        rather than with details and circumstances; -- said of
        literature. "Pragmatic history." --Sir W. Hamilton.
        "Pragmatic poetry." --M. Arnold.
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     {Pragmatic sanction}, a solemn ordinance or decree issued by
        the head or legislature of a state upon weighty matters;
        -- a term derived from the Byzantine empire. In European
        history, two decrees under this name are particularly
        celebrated. One of these, issued by Charles VII. of
        France, A. D. 1438, was the foundation of the liberties of
        the Gallican church; the other, issued by Charles VI. of
        Germany, A. D. 1724, settled his hereditary dominions on
        his eldest daughter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pragmatic \Prag*mat"ic\, n.
     1. One skilled in affairs.
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              My attorney and solicitor too; a fine pragmatic.
                                                    --B. Jonson.
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     2. A solemn public ordinance or decree.
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              A royal pragmatic was accordingly passed.
                                                    --Prescott.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pragmatic
       adj 1: concerned with practical matters; "a matter-of-fact (or
              pragmatic) approach to the problem"; "a matter-of-fact
              account of the trip" [syn: {matter-of-fact}, {pragmatical}]
       2: of or concerning the theory of pragmatism [syn: {pragmatical}]
       3: guided by practical experience and observation rather than
          theory; "a hardheaded appraisal of our position"; "a
          hard-nosed labor leader"; "completely practical in his
          approach to business"; "not ideology but pragmatic
          politics" [syn: {hardheaded}, {hard-nosed}, {practical}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  104 Moby Thesaurus words for "pragmatic":
     Cyrenaic, Eleatic, Epicurean, Megarian, Stoic, advantageous,
     animist, animistic, appropriate, atomistic, balanced, banausic,
     beneficial, commodious, commonsense, cool, coolheaded,
     cosmotheistic, down-to-earth, earthy, eclectic, effective,
     effectual, efficient, empirical, employable, eudaemonistic,
     existential, expedient, feasible, fitting, functional, good for,
     hard, hard-boiled, hardheaded, hedonic, hedonist, hedonistic,
     helpful, humanist, humanistic, idealistic, instrumentalist,
     levelheaded, logical, materialistic, matter-of-fact, mechanistic,
     metaphysical, monistic, naturalistic, nominalist,
     of general utility, of help, of service, of use, operable,
     panlogistical, pantheistic, philosophical, positivist,
     positivistic, practicable, practical, practical-minded,
     pragmatical, pragmatist, proper, rational, rationalistic, realist,
     realistic, realizable, reasonable, sane, scholastic, scientific,
     scientistic, secular, sensationalistic, sensible, serviceable,
     sober, sober-minded, sound, sound-thinking, straight-thinking,
     syncretistic, theistic, transcendentalist, transcendentalistic,
     unideal, unidealistic, unromantic, unsentimental, useful,
     utilitarian, vitalistic, voluntarist, voluntaristic, well-balanced,
     workable, worldly