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gratuitous. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
gratuitous, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
gratuitous in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
gratuitous you have here. The definition of the word
gratuitous will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
gratuitous, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Latin grātuītus (“free”), from Latin grātia (“favor”), grātus (“showing favor”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
gratuitous (comparative more gratuitous, superlative most gratuitous)
- Given freely; unearned.
2023 January 11, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: castles and cathedrals”, in RAIL, number 974, page 56:Also mentioned is the Rev. T. Stock, who has a tablet in St John's church [Gloucester] and "who with Raikes established the four original Sunday schools in this parish ... in 1780. From this small beginning sprung that gratuitous system of Christian instruction which has covered the face of England and Wales with schools."
- Unjustified or unnecessary; not called for by the circumstances.
- Synonym: uncalled-for
gratuitous violence
1983, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Never Say Never Again, spoken by Q (Alec McCowen):Good to see you Mr. Bond. Things've been awfully dull 'round here. […] Now you're on this. I hope we're going to have some gratuitous sex and violence!
Synonyms
(given freely):
(not called for by the circumstances):
Antonyms
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
given freely
- Bulgarian: безплатен (bg) (bezplaten), безкористен (bg) (bezkoristen)
- Dutch: kosteloos (nl), gratis (nl)
- Finnish: ilmainen (fi), vastikkeeton (fi)
- French: gratuit (fr)
- German: gratis (de), kostenlos (de), geschenkt (de), frei (de), unentgeltlich (de), unverdient
- Greek:
- Ancient: ἀδάπανος (adápanos)
- Hebrew: חִנָּם (he) (ẖinnám)
- Portuguese: gratuito (pt)
- Romanian: gratuit (ro), gratis (ro)
- Russian: беспла́тный (ru) (besplátnyj), безвозмездный (ru) (bezvozmezdnyj), незаслуженный (ru) (nezaslužennyj)
- Turkish: ücretsiz (tr)
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not called for by the circumstances
- Bulgarian: ненужен (bg) (nenužen), безпричинен (bg) (bezpričinen)
- Danish: unødvendig
- Dutch: ongegrond (nl), gratuit (nl)
- Finnish: tarpeeton (fi), perusteeton (fi), aiheeton (fi)
- French: gratuit (fr)
- German: unnötig (de), überflüssig (de), nutzlos (de), willkürlich (de), grundlos (de), beliebig (de), unerwünscht (de), unaufgefordert (de), unbegründet (de)
- Hebrew: חִנָּם (he) (ẖinnám)
- Hungarian: indokolatlan (hu), fölösleges (hu)
- Maori: pokerehū
- Persian: بیجا (bi-jâ), الکی (fa) (alaki), بیخودی (fa) (bi-xodi)
- Romanian: nejustificat (ro), arbitrar (ro), gratis (ro)
- Russian: беспричинный (ru) (bespričinnyj), необосно́ванный (ru) (neobosnóvannyj)
- Swedish: meningslös (sv), ogrundad (sv), omotiverad (sv), oberättigad (sv), oförtjänt (sv), onödig (sv), opåkallad (sv)
- Turkish: fuzuli (tr), gereksiz (tr), lüzumsuz (tr)
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Further reading
- “gratuitous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “gratuitous”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.