down-to-earth adj. Facing reality squarely; guided by practical experience and observation rather than theory. Opposite of idealistic, unrealistic, impractical, and pie-in-the-sky.
... scientific training, it was Dave Miller himself who grasped the down-to-earth idea that started them hoping again. He was walking about the lab, jingling keys in his pocket, when suddenly he stopped short. He jerked the ring of ... — The Day Time Stopped Moving • Bradner Buckner
... seems to have been printed about 1885. I got my copy when I was still a teenager (nth-hand; I am not really as old as all that!) and have greatly enjoyed the enlightened, yet practical and down-to-earth attitude of the writer. It seems to me a fine example of late Victorian instructional material of the unpretentious persuasion. Some of Browne's views were ahead of his time in terms of compassion and conservation, so I urge modern readers not ... — Practical Taxidermy • Montagu Browne
...
