Gradgrind en · NOUN
Etymology
From Thomas Gradgrind, a pedantic teacher in Charles Dickens' Hard Times (1854).
Meanings
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One who relies solely on scientific measurements and observable facts without taking human nature into consideration.
They do just what all the practical men of this practical age are doing, what even the Gradgrinds are doing: they embody ideas; they put thoughts into facts.
1860 June, “Representative Art”, in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 5, number 32:“I was purring. I'm a Gradgrind—it's quite right—anything you can say about Herbert Spencer, vivisectors, materialistic Science or Atheists, applies without correction to me. […]”
1905, H. G. Wells, A Modern Utopia:He was a veritable Gradgrind for facts, facts, facts.
1916, Arthur B. Reeve, The Ear in the Wall:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gradgrinds | Number=Plur | lexicographic |