Gradgrindian

English

Etymology

From Gradgrind +‎ -ian, name of a pedantic character in Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times.

Adjective

Gradgrindian (comparative more Gradgrindian, superlative most Gradgrindian)

1. Having a soulless devotion to facts and figures; inflexibly utilitarian.

   Synonym: Gradgrindish

   • 2006 November 13, “Winners must be facts-obsessed in pursuit for truth”, in Financial Times:

     But today's winning businesses are positively Gradgrindian in their pursuit of the truth.

   • 2016 February 28, John Old, “The EU refendum: Europe’s antidote to alienation and scapegoating is hope”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Whether one favours a Gradgrindian Thatcherism that removes all worker rights, or a Corbynista fantasy of wholesale nationalisation, we will find these are impossible, given the reach of the Brussels acquis.

   • 2018 February 16, Peter Bradshaw, “I’ve never known my times tables. Frankly, who needs them?”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     But I have never quite got my head around my times tables, which I think are a Gradgrindian chanting fetish periodically revived by politicians who, if they are honest with themselves, have never really needed times tables either.

Usage notes

Sometimes used without the initial capital.

Related terms

• Gradgrindery
• Gradgrindish
• Gradgrindism