Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Given or granted without return or recompense; unearned.
- adj. Given or received without cost or obligation; free.
- adj. Unnecessary or unwarranted; unjustified: gratuitous criticism.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Freely bestowed or obtained; costing nothing to the recipient.
- Unnecessary; not required; not warranted by circumstances or reason; uncalled for: as, a gratuitous insult.
- Unwarranted, unnecessary, groundless.
Wiktionary
- adj. Given freely; unearned.
- adj. Not called for by the circumstances; uncalled-for; without reason, cause, or proof; adopted or asserted without any good ground; unjustified.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Given without an equivalent or recompense; conferred without valuable consideration; granted without pay, or without claim or merit; not required by justice.
- adj. Not called for by the circumstances; without reason, cause, or proof; adopted or asserted without any good ground.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. without cause
- adj. costing nothing
- adj. unnecessary and unwarranted
Etymologies
- From Latin grātuītus; see gwerə-2 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“My misery was what I call my gratuitous brain surgery.”
“Zimbabwe's neighbors to follow the lead of the European Union and condemn what he called the gratuitous and violent actions by Mugabe against his own people.”
“However, it is still worrying that Scotland Yard used the word 'gratuitous' to describe the Milly Dowler story, trying to say it was not in the public interest.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“After all, poor white trash is only useful as cannon fodder in gratuitous wars.”
“Among stories it described as "gratuitous" – literally, without merit – and not in the public interest was the revelation that the News of the World had hacked into Milly Dowler's voicemail.”
“She never indulged in gratuitous self-aggrandizing.”
“The sole non-Japanese entry to this list is a South-Korean scifi spectacular that positively revels in gratuitous depictions of squash-and-stretch violence, sexuality, and bodily functions.”
MIND MELD: Anime Film Favorites (+ The Top 14 Anime Films of All Time!)
“In civilized societies, people act civilized and do not engage in gratuitous insults, which is exactly how Sarkozy and Obama behaved.”
“Well if a definiton of gratuitous is 'being without apparent reason, cause or justification' then sadly that's exactly what violence is.”
“The fact that the best you (and your amen corner here) can do is engage in gratuitous name-calling is very instructive.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gratuitous’.
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Film
jidaigeki, samurai, Kurosawa, action, comedy, drama, Bergman, Buñuel, surreal, rotoscope, melodrama, Cinerama and 333 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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