PRAGMATISM

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The attribute of accepting the facts of life and favoring practicality and literal truth

Synonyms:

pragmatism; realism

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("pragmatism" is a kind of...):

practicality (concerned with actual use rather than theoretical possibilities)

Derivation:

pragmatic (concerned with practical matters)

pragmatic (guided by practical experience and observation rather than theory)

pragmatical (concerned with practical matters)

pragmatist (a person who takes a practical approach to problems and is concerned primarily with the success or failure of her actions)

pragmatist (an adherent of philosophical pragmatism)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(philosophy) the doctrine that practical consequences are the criteria of knowledge and meaning and value

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("pragmatism" is a kind of...):

philosophical doctrine; philosophical theory (a doctrine accepted by adherents to a philosophy)

Domain category:

philosophy (the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pragmatism"):

instrumentalism (a system of pragmatic philosophy that considers idea to be instruments that should guide our actions and their value is measured by their success)