Meanings
- uncountableImpatient technical pedantry that dismisses human factors, especially regarding education.
Polly Toynbee is spot on in her excoriation of Govian Gradgrindery. The inevitable marginalisation of the supposedly "soft" arts subjects in the state sector is a scandal.
2013 November 7, Ian Barge, “Children must learn to question, not simply obey”, in The Guardian, →ISSN2 more examples
For others, the process of reducing words to numbers is like sucking the life out of language, a remorseless exercise in Gradgrindery whose limited worldview masquerades as objectivity and universal truth.
2001, Justin Lewis, Constructing Public Opinion: How Political Elites Do What They Like and Why We Seem to Go Along with ItTony often contrasted the humanistic ideals of his heroes and teachers with the dry, bureaucratic Gradgrindery which he felt characterised many attempts at educational "reform".
2007 April 18, John Bull, “Obituary: Tony Neville”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Cite this entry
Gradgrindery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gradgrindery
“Gradgrindery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gradgrindery. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Gradgrindery,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gradgrindery.
Source: Gradgrindery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.