Gritty has a literal meaning — covered in or containing grit, meaning tiny bits of sand or stone, like sand stuck between your toes at the beach, or gritty flour that wasn't cleaned properly. But you'll actually meet the figurative meanings more often: a gritty movie, story, or city shows tough, unpleasant, realistic life honestly, without making it look nicer than it is — no soft lighting, no easy happy endings. A gritty performance in sports means someone played with real toughness and determination, even when things were hard. So gritty can describe sand, or it can describe tough honesty, or it can describe determination — context tells you which.