Gratuitous
[grə'tjuːɪtəs] or [ɡrə'tuɪtəs]
Definition
(adj.) without cause; 'a gratuitous insult' .
(adj.) unnecessary and unwarranted; 'a strikers' tent camp...was burned with needless loss of life' .
Typed by Howard--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Given without an equivalent or recompense; conferred without valuable consideration; granted without pay, or without claim or merit; not required by justice.
(a.) Not called for by the circumstances; without reason, cause, or proof; adopted or asserted without any good ground; as, a gratuitous assumption.
Typist: Theodore
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Voluntary, free, spontaneous, of one's own accord.[2]. Unwarranted, unfounded, groundless, without proof.
Edited by Cathryn
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Free, uncompensated, voluntary, unwarranted, groundless, wanton, unnecessary,unsought
ANT:Compulsory, involuntary, obligatory, necessitated, warranted, well-founded
Checked by Jo
Examples
- Among all forms of mistake, prophecy is the most gratuitous. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It was not Mr. Bambridge's weakness to be a gratuitous flatterer. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The extinction of species has been involved in the most gratuitous mystery. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- It was understood from the beginning that my services would be gratuitous. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Lydgate had often been satirical on this gratuitous prediction, and he meant now to be guarded. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Fearless and wicked as they are, they dare not attempt such open and gratuitous cruelty! Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
Checked by Jo