In linguistics, pragmatics refers to the study of how context influences the interpretation of language. It deals with the way people use language in specific situations and the social aspects of communication. Pragmatics goes beyond the literal meaning of words and examines how context, tone, social roles, and cultural norms affect the meaning of a message. Understanding pragmatics is crucial for effective communication, as it helps in interpreting implied meanings, sarcasm, indirect requests, and other forms of non-literal language use.