Pragmatic (pr
A pragmatist is someone who takes social and cultural context into account when communicating. Someone who is pragmatic is able to interpret the most likely meaning of a word or phrase, as well as its antecedents and consequences, based on the social norms of his or her environment. A pragmatist is also able to recognize that not every communication situation is the same, and adjust to that fact.
The word pragmatic comes from the Greek pragma, meaning “to do,” and the Latin pr
It is common to hear that people need to be more pragmatic and less idealistic. This is usually a compliment, and implies that they should focus on what is realistic rather than their ideals, which may be unrealistic in the current circumstances. Pragmatism and idealism are not mutually exclusive, and many people navigate life by using a balance of both.
Pragmatics is an umbrella term that encompasses several subfields of linguistics, each with its own specific focus. Computational pragmatics, for example, involves the use of natural language processing to help computers understand and convey human meaning more effectively. Other examples of pragmatics include semantics, semiotics, and communication studies.
Another example of pragmatics is the utterance, “How are you?” when someone meets someone new. The question is not meant to get a detailed report on the speaker’s health and wellbeing, but instead to initiate a conversation. The phrasing and timing of this exchange communicates a lot about the speaker, including their level of familiarity with the other person.
A pragmatic approach to communication is often necessary because of the ambiguity in languages. Knowing how to disambiguate words and phrases can greatly enhance the efficiency of everyday communication. A pragmatic knowledge of how a word can be interpreted allows you to avoid the unlikely interpretations that may be possible with the same word in different contexts, such as: “That painting was found by humans” and “That painting was discovered by a tree.” The former interpretation is implausible because the trees don’t have hands. However, the latter interpretation makes more sense because of pragmatic knowledge of how the world works and what information is available in a given context. The OED lists 11 meanings for pragmatic, three of which are obsolete. See the section ‘Meaning and Use’ for more details.