Select the word that best captures the meaning of pragmatic in the excerpt:

Rather than pursuing ideological dogmas, the economic committee formulated a pragmatic policy framework focused on immediate workforce reskilling and targeted industrial subsidies.

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: D. guided by practical considerations rather than theory

  1. Step 1: Contrast with context: the sentence opposes 'pragmatic policy framework' to 'ideological dogmas', highlighting focus on practical real-world implementation.
  2. Step 2: 'Pragmatic' means dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations.
Answer
guided by practical considerations rather than theory.
Why not the others: 'inflexibly adherent to orthodox academic dogmas' describes ideological rigidity, the opposite of pragmatic; 'reckless and indifferent to empirical outcomes' describes negligence; 'designed exclusively to produce short-term political popularity' implies opportunistic populism.

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