Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who adheres to or professes the philosophy of pragmatism; more loosely, an opponent of rationalism and absolutism in philosophy; a supporter of the experimental method of reasoning in philosophy; a supporter of empiricism, but, unlike other empiricists, one who judges by consequences rather than by antecedents. See
pragmatism , 3. - noun One who is impertinently busy or meddling.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One who is pragmatic.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun One who acts in a
practical or straightforward manner; one who ispragmatic ; one who values practicality or pragmatism. - noun One who acts in response to particular situations rather than upon abstract ideals; one who is willing to ignore their ideals to accomplish goals.
- noun One who belongs to the philosophic school of
pragmatism ; one who holds that the meaning of beliefs are the actions they entail, and that the truth of those beliefs consist in the actions they entail successfully leading a believer to their goals.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a person who takes a practical approach to problems and is concerned primarily with the success or failure of her actions
- noun an adherent of philosophical pragmatism
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Under his leadership the party has moved from the hard right to the centre right and he is known as a pragmatist rather than an ideologist.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Fiona Govan 2011
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Being a pragmatist is a statement about means, not ends.
Archive 2009-05-01 Robert Reich 2009
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Being a pragmatist is a statement about means, not ends.
Obama and Pragmatism: Thinking Through Values Robert Reich 2009
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You do make a good distinction between the squish and what I would call the pragmatist and as opposed to the visionary/idealist or the ideologue.
A Question About Rush’s ‘Conservative’ Critics - Erick’s blog - RedState 2009
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The definition of a pragmatist was a person who says, "Tell me how the system works, and I'll try to find a way to work within it to make a profit."
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While Freidland is described as a pragmatist, he probably did not give a second thought to the mercenary activities of Buckingham, Mann, Barlow and Spicer.
Archive 2008-04-01 Dana 2008
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And I don't know as a pragmatist there's anything we can do, and that's the -- dad is usually legal, mom probably isn't and the kids are of mixed status.
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And I don't know as a pragmatist there's anything we can do, and that's the -- dad is usually legal, mom probably isn't and the kids are of mixed status.
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The pragmatist is the mediator between these extremes, someone, like James himself, with "scientific loyalty to facts," but also "the old confidence in human values and the resultant spontaneity, whether of the religious or romantic type" (P, 17).
William James Goodman, Russell 2006
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Or perhaps he was what the learned call a pragmatist!
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