Gradgrindian

English Etymology From en Gradgrind -ian, name of a pedantic character in Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times (novel) Hard Times. Adjective Having a soulless devotion to facts and figures; inflexibly utilitarian. en Gradgrindish en But today's winning businesses are positively Gradgrindian in their pursuit of the truth. November 13, 2006 Winners must be facts-obsessed in pursuit for truth Financial Times en The EU refendum: Europe’s antidote to alienation and scapegoating is hope John Old The Guardian 2016-02-28 https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/feb/28/the-big-issue-eu-referendum 0261-3077 Whether one favours a Gradgrindian Thatcherism that removes all worker rights, or a Corbynista fantasy of wholesale nationalisation, we will find these are impossible, given the reach of the Brussels acquis. en w:Peter Bradshaw I’ve never known my times tables. Frankly, who needs them? The Guardian 2018-02-16 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/16/times-tables-multiplication-learning-by-rote 0261-3077 But I have never quite got my head around my times tables, which I think are a Gradgrindian chanting fetish periodically revived by politicians who, if they are honest with themselves, have never really needed times tables either. Usage notes Sometimes used without the initial capital. Related terms en Gradgrindery en Gradgrindish en Gradgrindism en eponyms terms derived from Dickensian works