nitty-gritty
The core or essence of somethingThe core or essence of something; the gist.
UK/ˌnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/US/ˈnɪtiˈɡɹɪti/
Meaning
1 senses(also, attributive, colloquial, uncountable)The core or essence of something; the gist.
He gave a short summary without getting into the nitty-gritty of the problem.
Wesentliche
More definitions
- the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
Translations
4 languagesDeutsch
core or essence of something — see also gist:
Origin
Of uncertain origin; said to have been first used by black jazz musicians from the UnitedOf uncertain origin; said to have been first used by black jazz musicians from the United States, the word is perhaps a reduplication of gritty (“resembling grit”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *greutą (“grit”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-) with alteration of the first syllable.
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Synonyms
32 synonymsWord family
1 related wordsDerivednitty
Lessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable