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Spirit vs Grit - What's the difference?

spirit | grit | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between spirit and grit

is that spirit is the undying essence of a human; the soul while grit is collection of hard small materials, such as dirt, ground stone, debris from sandblasting or other such grinding, swarf from metalworking.

As verbs the difference between spirit and grit

is that spirit is to carry off, especially in haste, secrecy, or mystery while grit is to clench, particularly in reaction to pain or anger; apparently only appears in gritting one's teeth.

As a proper noun Spirit

is {{altname|Holy Spirit}}.

As an adjective Grit is

of or belonging to the Liberal Party of Canada.

spirit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The undying essence of a human; the soul.
  • * , chapter=7
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit .}}
  • * 1967 , MacCormack, Woman Times Seven
    • a triumph of the spirit over the flesh.
  • A supernatural being, often but not exclusively without physical form; ghost, fairy, angel.
    • A wandering spirit haunts the island.
  • * John Locke
    • Whilst young, preserve his tender mind from all impressions of spirits and goblins in the dark.
  • Enthusiasm.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Phil Dawkes, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Sunderland 2-2 West Brom , passage=The result may not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.}}
  • The manner or style of something.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or
  • * Alexander Pope
    • A perfect judge will read each work of wit / With the same spirit that its author writ.
  • (usually, in the plural) A volatile liquid, such as alcohol. The plural form spirits is a generic term for distilled alcoholic beverages.
  • Energy; ardour.
  • * Fuller
    • "Write it then, quickly," replied Bede; and summoning all his spirits together, like the last blaze of a candle going out, he indited it, and expired.
  • One who is vivacious or lively; one who evinces great activity or peculiar characteristics of mind or temper.
    • a ruling spirit'''; a schismatic '''spirit
  • * Dryden
    • Such spirits as he desired to please, such would I choose for my judges.
  • Temper or disposition of mind; mental condition or disposition; intellectual or moral state; often in the plural.
    • to be cheerful, or in good spirits'''; to be down-hearted, or in bad '''spirits
  • * South
    • God has made a spirit' of building succeed a ' spirit of pulling down.
  • (obsolete) Air set in motion by breathing; breath; hence, sometimes, life itself.
  • * Spenser
    • For, else he sure had left not one alive, / But all, in his Revenge, of Spirit would deprive.
  • * Spenser
    • The mild air, with season moderate, / Gently attempered, and disposed so well, / That still it breathed forth sweet spirit .
  • (obsolete) A rough breathing; an aspirate, such as the letter h ; also, a mark denoting aspiration.
  • * Ben Jonson
    • Be it a letter or spirit , we have great use for it.
  • Intent; real meaning; opposed to the letter, or formal statement.
    • the spirit of an enterprise, or of a document
  • (alchemy, obsolete) Any of the four substances: sulphur, sal ammoniac, quicksilver, and arsenic (or, according to some, orpiment).
  • * Chaucer
    • the four spirits and the bodies seven
  • (dyeing) stannic chloride

    • Derived terms

    (Derived terms) * community spirit * free spirit * Holy Spirit * in good spirits * in spirit (adverb) * in the spirit it was meant (idiom) * kindred spirit * methlyated spirit * moving spirit * party spirit * petroleum spirit * poor in spirit * proof spirit * pyroacetic spirit * rectified spirit * shad-spirit * spiritdom * spirited * spiriten * spirit-filled * spiritful * spirithood * spiritish * spiritless * spiritlike * spiritling * spiritly * spiritness * spiritous * spiritship * spiritsome * spiritual * spiritually * spirituality * spirit away (verb) * spirit gum * spirit lamp * spirit level * spirit off * spirit of hartshorn * spirit of salt * spirit of the law * spirit of turpentine * spirit of vitriol * spirit of wine * spirit rapper/spirit rapping * spirit stove * spirit world * spirit writing * surgical spirit * team spirit * that's the spirit * the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak * white spirit * wood spirit * zombie spirit (spirit)

    See also

    * ghost * soul

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To carry off, especially in haste, secrecy, or mystery.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2009, date=February 8, author=Dave Kehr, title=Buñuel at His Wildest, in Circulation Again, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=God does not make an appearance, but the Devil (Ms. Pinal) emphatically does: first in the guise of a schoolgirl who tries to lure Simon down with the sight of her shapely legs; then as a bearded but blatantly female Jesus carrying a lamb; and finally as a stylishly coiffed woman who succeeds in spiriting Simon off, by means of a jet, to a Manhattan discotheque — Buñuel’s persuasive idea of hell.}}
  • * Willis
    • I felt as if I had been spirited into some castle of antiquity.
  • To animate with vigor; to excite; to encourage; to inspirit; sometimes followed by up .
    • Civil dissensions often spirit the ambition of private men.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • Many officers and private men spirit up and assist those obstinate people to continue in their rebellion.

    Statistics

    * ----

    grit

    English

    Etymology 1

    With early modern vowel shortening, from (etyl) grete, griet, from (etyl) ‘lump’).

    Noun

    (-)
  • Collection of hard small materials, such as dirt, ground stone, debris from sandblasting or other such grinding, swarf from metalworking.
    • The flower beds were white with grit from sand blasting the flagstone walkways.
  • Inedible particles in food.
    • It tastes like grit from nutshells in these cookies.
  • Firmness of mind; invincible spirit; unyielding courage or fearlessness; fortitude.
    • That kid with the cast on his arm has the grit to play dodgeball.
  • A measure of relative coarseness of an abrasive material such as sandpaper.
    • I need a sheet of 100 grit sandpaper.
  • (geology) A hard, coarse-grained siliceous sandstone; gritstone. Also, to a finer sharp-grained sandstone, e.g. grindstone grit .
    • Derived terms
    * *
    Related terms
    * * * sand, sandy, sandblasting
    See also
    * debris * mortar and pestle * swarf

    Verb

  • To clench, particularly in reaction to pain or anger; apparently only appears in gritting one's teeth .
    • We had no choice but to grit our teeth and get on with it.
    He has a sleeping disorder and grits his teeth.
  • To cover with grit .
  • To give forth a grating sound, like sand under the feet; to grate; to grind.
  • * Goldsmith
    • The sanded floor that grits beneath the tread.
    Derived terms
    *

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) gryt ‘bran, chaff’, from (etyl) grytt, from (etyl) . See above.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (usually in plural) husked]] but unground [[oat, oats
  • (usually in plural) coarsely ground corn or hominy used as porridge
    • Related terms
    * *

    Anagrams

    * girt * trig