gratuity
Americannoun
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a gift of money, over and above payment due for service, as to a waiter or bellhop; tip.
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something given without claim or demand.
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British.
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a bonus granted to war veterans by the government.
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a bonus given military personnel on discharge or retirement.
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noun
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a gift or reward, usually of money, for services rendered; tip
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something given without claim or obligation
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military a financial award granted for long or meritorious service
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gratuity
1515–25; < Middle French gratuite, equivalent to Latin grātuī ( tus ) free + Middle French -te -ty 2
Explanation
A gratuity is a tip that's given by a customer in exchange for services. You might leave a gratuity of several dollars when you eat lunch in a restaurant or when you get your hair cut. A gratuity is usually a relatively small amount of money, a percentage of the total cost of a purchase or service. A gratuity doesn't pay for the goods purchased — it's a separate reward to the person who did the work. For example, in the United States, waiters and waitresses typically expect a gratuity of between 18 and 20 percent of the total cost of a meal.
Vocabulary lists containing gratuity
100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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Ratios and Proportional Relationships
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Ratios and Proportional Relationships
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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 a news release Wednesday, the attorneys general’s office said GratShare, owned by the Florida-based company Gratuity Solutions, unlawfully charged employees fees to receive their tips.
From Washington Post • Nov. 4, 2022
In an email, Gratuity Solutions founder Aleks Stepanovich said he started his career in D.C. restaurants in the 1990s.
From Washington Post • Nov. 4, 2022
As a trustee of the Stock Exchange Gratuity Fund, Dick Whitney in the summer of 1937 handled certain perfectly legal switchings of its portfolio.
From Time Magazine Archive
No consumer in Winfree's District, immersed as he was in the debate over Birthday Gratuity Minima, could possibly plead ignorance should he be apprehended in violation of these new regulations.
From The Great Potlatch Riots by Lang, Allen Kim
The Governor has two or three thousand Florins, and sometimes more as a Gratuity, besides his Stipend.
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.
