Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesThe study of the use of language, especially meaning, in a social context; it includes extratextual aspects of language including exophoric reference, phatic utterances, and nonverbal channels.
Holonym: linguistics
2 more examples
[…] in the clause, only the adjective may be fronted; but if both a past participle and a verbal particle are present, either may be fronted. Topicalization, in which maximal projections are fronted to express pragmatics such as contrast, emphasis, […]
2001, Arthur J. Holmer, Jan-Olof Svantesson, Åke Viberg, Proceedings of the 18th Scandinavian Conference of LinguisticsThe conversational tone is almost uncanny. But it’s not a sign that large language models are becoming human; it’s a sign that they have mastered pragmatics. […] When a computational linguist told me several years ago about the advances artificial intelligence was making in simulating human language, the first thing I thought was: The hot next step will be getting to pragmatics.
2025 August 28, John McWhorter, “The Single Word That Explains Why Chatbots Sound So Human”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
- pluralplural of pragmatic
Translations
Catalan pragmàtica
- pragmàticastudy of the use of the language in a social context
Chinese Mandarin 語用學 /语用学
- 語用學 /语用学 (yǔyòngxué)study of the use of the language in a social context
Czech pragmatika
- pragmatikastudy of the use of the language in a social context
Danish pragmatik
- pragmatikstudy of the use of the language in a social context
Dutch Pragmatiek
- Pragmatiekstudy of the use of the language in a social context
Finnish pragmatiikka
- pragmatiikkastudy of the use of the language in a social context
French pragmatique
- pragmatiquestudy of the use of the language in a social context
German Pragmatik, Pragmatiklinguistik
- Pragmatikstudy of the use of the language in a social context
- Pragmatiklinguistikstudy of the use of the language in a social context
Greek πραγματολογία
- πραγματολογία (pragmatología)study of the use of the language in a social context
Hindi संकेतप्रयोगविज्ञान
- संकेतप्रयोगविज्ञान (saṅketaprayogvijñān)study of the use of the language in a social context
Indonesian pragmatik, pragmatika
- pragmatikstudy of the use of the language in a social context
- pragmatikastudy of the use of the language in a social context
Korean 화용학
- 화용학 (hwayonghak)study of the use of the language in a social context
Malay pragmatik
- pragmatikstudy of the use of the language in a social context
Norwegian pragmatikk
- pragmatikkstudy of the use of the language in a social context
Polish pragmatyka
- pragmatykastudy of the use of the language in a social context
Portuguese pragmática
- pragmáticastudy of the use of the language in a social context
Spanish pragmática, pragmalingüística
- pragmáticastudy of the use of the language in a social context
- pragmalingüísticastudy of the use of the language in a social context
Swahili isimu amali
- isimu amalistudy of the use of the language in a social context
Swedish pragmatik
- pragmatikstudy of the use of the language in a social context
Turkish edimbilim, kullanımbilim
- edimbilimstudy of the use of the language in a social context
- kullanımbilimstudy of the use of the language in a social context
Vietnamese ngữ dụng học
- ngữ dụng họcstudy of the use of the language in a social context
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pragmatics
Cite this entry
pragmatics. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pragmatics
“pragmatics.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pragmatics. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pragmatics,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pragmatics.
Source: pragmatics on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.