ex gratia

[ eks grey-shee-uh ]

adjective, adverb

as a favor rather than as a matter of right: ex gratia payments made to nonstriking workers.

Origin of ex gratia

First recorded in 1760–70, ex gratia is from Latin ex gratiā “out of goodwill”

Words Nearby ex gratia

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ex gratia in a sentence

We were to fall on our swords as an ex gratia preemptive concession.
I Was Right | Conrad Black | April 3, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
I fancy it would be thought “irregular:” though perhaps ex gratia, and from the oddity of the proposal, it might be conceded.
Bardell v. Pickwick | Percy Fitzgerald
Quum ergo Deus pater nos elegit ex gratia sua, traxitque et vocavit, cur ad eum accedere non auderemus?
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Vol 2 | J. H. Merle D'Aubign

British Dictionary definitions for ex gratia

ex gratia

/ (ˈɡreɪʃə) /

adjective

given as a favour or gratuitously where no legal obligation exists: an ex gratia payment

Origin of ex gratia

New Latin, literally: out of kindness

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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