gratuitous
pronunciation
How to pronounce gratuitous in British English:
UK [ɡrəˈtjuːɪtəs]
How to pronounce gratuitous in American English:
US [ɡrəˈtuːɪtəs]
-
- Adjective:
- without cause
- costing nothing
- unnecessary and unwarranted
Word Origin
- gratuitous (adj.)
- 1650s, "freely bestowed," from Latin gratuitus "done without pay, spontaneous, voluntary," from gratus "pleasing, agreeable," from gratia "favor" (see grace (n.)). Earlier was gratuital (1590s). Sense of "uncalled for, done without good reason" is first recorded 1690s.
Example
- 1. But civility has been sacrificed to the gratuitous insult .
- 2. It is difficult to get the attention of most gamers under the age of 25 because our games offer no first-person perspective or gratuitous violence .
- 3. And a teacher should not lob gratuitous barbs at her students , which contradicts her own professional duty : to teach the skills and habits of democracy .
- 4. " We demand the us side abandon its cold war thinking and stop its gratuitous criticism of china , " said liu jianchao , a chinese foreign ministry spokesman .
- 5. This kind of gratuitous and overstated demonisation widely seen in the business community as a resort to economic populism on the part of mr obama to shore up the growing weakness in his political standing is exactly the wrong approach .