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If you are pragmatic, you look at the real problem in front of you and choose what will actually work. You do not to a big idea, a party line, or a perfect plan when the facts say it will not help. A pragmatic person asks, “What can we do now?” more than “What should the world look like?” Teachers, bosses, and news writers use this word a lot; it sounds grown-up and a bit cool-headed, not slang.
If you are pragmatic如果你是pragmatic的人 you look at the real problem in front of you你會看著眼前真正的問題 and choose what will actually work然後選擇真正有用的做法。 You do not cling to a big idea, a party line, or a perfect plan你不會死抱著一個大道理、黨的立場、或完美計畫不放 when the facts say it will not help當事實已經顯示這樣做沒用的時候。 A pragmatic person asks, "What can we do now?"pragmatic的人問的是"我們現在能做什麼？" more than "What should the world look like?"而不是"這世界應該長什麼樣子？" Teachers, bosses, and news writers use this word a lot老師、老闆、新聞寫手都很常用這個字 it sounds grown-up and a bit cool-headed, not slang聽起來成熟、有點冷靜理性，不是俚語。
Though actually, people often say pragmatic when they only mean practical. Those two sit close, but they are not the same. Practical is about tools and getting a job done. Pragmatic is about putting a theory or an ideal on the shelf because the situation will not wait.
Though actually不過其實 people often say pragmatic when they only mean practical人常常說pragmatic，其實只是想說practical。 Those two sit close這兩個字很接近 but they are not the same但不是同一回事。 Practical practical is about tools and getting a job done講的是工具，還有把事情做完這件事。 Pragmatic pragmatic is about putting a theory or an ideal on the shelf講的是把理論或理想先擱在一邊 because the situation will not wait因為情況不等人。
In it can even sound a little cold, as if someone has their beliefs for a result that works today.
In politics在政治上 it can even sound a little cold這個字聽起來甚至有點冷酷 as if someone has traded their beliefs for a result that works today好像有人拿自己的信念去換一個今天就見效的結果。
組成From Greek pragma “a thing done, a fact” (from prassō “to do”) → Greek pragmatikós “versed in affairs” → Latin pragmaticus → French pragmatique → English. The same Greek “to do” also gave English practical.
同家族的字
- practicalsame Greek root “to do”
- pragmaticallythe adverb: in this practical, not-ideal way
- pragmatismthe noun for this way of dealing with problems
- pragmatista person who thinks and acts this way
原始詞典資料7 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
pragmaticadj/pɹæɡˈmætɪk/
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Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.
- The sturdy furniture in the student lounge was pragmatic, but unattractive.
- Nor indeed are these restrictions pragmatic in nature: i.e. the ill-formedness of the heed-sentences in (60) is entirely different in kind from the oddity of sentences like: (61) !That man will eat any car which thinks heʼs stupid which is purely pragmatic (i.e. lies in the fact that (61) describes the kind of bizarre situation which just doesnʼt happen in the world we are familiar with, where cars donʼt think, and people donʼt eat cars).
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Philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects, rather than with details and circumstances; said of literature.
- Polybius’s pragmatic history is simply the history of affairs, as distinguished from the descriptive and often poetical character which much history before his time had.
- […]such objects belonged to the domain of the comic poet, and of the lighter kinds of poetry. For the more serious kinds, for pragmatic poetry, to use an excellent expression of Polybius, they were more difficult and severe in the range of subjects which they permitted.
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human-scienceslinguisticssciencesRelating to the field of pragmatics.
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obsoleteInterfering in the affairs of others; officious; meddlesome.
pragmaticnoun/pɹæɡˈmætɪk/
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A man of business.
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A busybody.
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A public decree.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。