gratis
Americanadverb
adjective
adverb
Etymology
Origin of gratis
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin grātīs freely, contraction of grātiīs with favors, graces (ablative plural of grātia grace )
Explanation
When there’s a concert you want to go to and your best friend gets tickets and takes you gratis, be grateful: that means you’re going for free. You can use gratis as a synonym for "free" or "without payment." It can be either an adjective or an adverb. For example, you buy a new smart phone and immediately download several free apps. You get your first bill, and see you’ve been charged for all those apps. When you call the phone company, you can say, “Those apps were labeled as gratis. I downloaded them gratis. Why are you charging me?”
Vocabulary lists containing gratis
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Vocabulary from the Magna Carta on its 800th Anniversary
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The Merchant of Venice
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 1774, to counter this inequity, Franklin established the Society for Inoculating the Poor Gratis.
From New York Times • Feb. 28, 2011
Normally issued free by the chief chamberlain, the forged tickets omitted the stamped-on word Gratis, were sold for a pretty tourist penny.
From Time Magazine Archive
Baths offered Gratis by Nature. t is to the bright, bracing climate of North America that the activity, and consequent prosperity, of Jonathan is mainly to be attributed.
From Jonathan and His Continent Rambles Through American Society by Allyn, Jack
Gratis we'll get it for nothing and free!
From Mr Punch's Model Music Hall Songs and Dramas Collected, Improved and Re-arranged from Punch by Anstey, F.
Those who subscribe for twelve copies, shall have one Gratis.
From Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies) A Brief Historical Account of the Lives, Characters, and Memorable Transactions of the Most Eminent Scots Worthies by Howie, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
