| English Dictionary |
GRATUITOUS
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does gratuitous mean?
• GRATUITOUS (adjective)
The adjective GRATUITOUS has 3 senses:
1. without cause
2. costing nothing
3. unnecessary and unwarranted
Familiarity information: GRATUITOUS used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Without cause
Context example:
a gratuitous insult
Similar:
unmerited (not merited or deserved)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Costing nothing
Synonyms:
complimentary; costless; free; gratis; gratuitous
Context example:
free admission
Similar:
unpaid (not paid)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Unnecessary and unwarranted
Synonyms:
gratuitous; needless; uncalled-for
Context example:
a strikers' tent camp...was burned with needless loss of life
Similar:
unnecessary; unneeded (not necessary)
Context examples
My private opinion is, that this was entirely a gratuitous assumption, and that Pidger was altogether innocent of any such sentiments—to which he had never given any sort of expression that I could ever hear of.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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