Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Gratuitous   /grətˈuətəs/   Listen
adjective
Gratuitous  adj.  
1.
Given without an equivalent or recompense; conferred without valuable consideration; granted without pay, or without claim or merit; not required by justice. "We mistake the gratuitous blessings of Heaven for the fruits of our own industry."
2.
Not called for by the circumstances; without reason, cause, or proof; adopted or asserted without any good ground; as, a gratuitous assumption. "Acts of gratuitous self-humiliation."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Gratuitous" Quotes from Famous Books



... left at home will be ciphers or they will not be ciphers. If they are ciphers, cabinet government, which is equivalent to constitutional government, will receive a rude blow. If they are not ciphers, the cabinet will be considering matters of the utmost importance in the absence, and the gratuitous absence, of two of its most important members. 'The Standard,' Wed. June ...
— Deductive Logic • St. George Stock

... peak. She thought without more zest of their cycle-rides; though there had been a certain grim pride in squeezing forty miles a day out of the cycle which, having been won in a girls' magazine competition, constantly reminded her of its gratuitous character by a wild capriciousness. And there were occasions too which had been sanctified by political passion. There had been one happy morning when Rachael and she had ridden past Prestonpans, where the fisher-folk sat mending ...
— The Judge • Rebecca West

... one. The moment, however, that the improvement is imitated by all producers, the advantage gained by it becomes the common good of the whole nation.(646) These are, as J. B. Say says, conquests made over the gratuitous productive force of nature. As a consequence, the value in use of a people's resources increases; generally, also, their value in exchange, in so far as the production of the now cheaper goods increases in a degree greater than their cost of ...
— Principles Of Political Economy • William Roscher

... large and deep well in one corner of the play-ground was invested with a horrid interest in our imaginations by tales of noyades on a small scale supposed to have been perpetrated in its depths by his orders. This charm of terror was, I think, rather a gratuitous addition to the attractions of this uncommonly fine well; but undoubtedly it added much to the fascination of one of our favorite amusements, which was throwing into it the heaviest stones we could lift, and rushing to the farthest end of the play-ground, which we ...
— Records of a Girlhood • Frances Anne Kemble

... Aberdeen. His last brochure on the subject is a letter to the Town Council of Edinburgh "On the Advancement of Learning in Scotland." Having made this matter a work of his life, he takes every opportunity to urge it, and, notwithstanding that he has got many gratuitous rebuffs, continues on his way cheerily, now delivering a lecture or speech on the subject, now writing letters in reply to this or that assailant, and now giving a more complete exposition of his views in ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volumes I-VI. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com