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Gratuitous vs Futility - What's the difference?

gratuitous | futility |

As an adjective gratuitous

is given freely; unearned.

As a noun futility is

(uncountable) the quality of being futile or useless.

gratuitous

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Given freely; unearned.
  • Not called for by the circumstances; uncalled-for; without reason, cause, or proof; adopted or asserted without any good ground; unjustified.
    • gratuitous violence

    Synonyms

    * unjustified * groundless * baseless * unfounded * unnecessary

    Antonyms

    * onerous

    Derived terms

    * gratuitousness * gratuitous praise * gratuitous violence

    Related terms

    * gratis * gratuity

    Coordinate terms

    * superfluous

    External links

    * *

    futility

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (uncountable) The quality of being futile or useless.
    • His taking the bar exam for a third time was pure futility .
  • (countable) Something, especially an act, that is futile.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1803, author=Thomas Jefferson, title=Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=But fashion and authority apart, and bringing Plato to the test of reason, take from him, his sophisms, futilities , and incomprehensibilities, and what remains? }}
  • *1843 , '', book 3, chapter XIII, ''Democracy
    • No man oppresses thee, can bid thee fetch or carry, come or go, without reason shewn. […] No man, wiser, unwiser, can make thee come or go: but thy own futilities , bewilderments, thy false appetites for Money, Windsor Georges and such like?
  • *{{quote-book, year=1919, author=F. Scott Fitzgerald, title=This Side of Paradise, chapter=, edition= citation
    • , passage=But men will chatter and you and I will still shout our futilities to each other across the stage until the last silly curtain falls plump! upon our bobbing heads. }}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2009, date=September 5, author=Robert Clark, title=Exhibition preview: Goya: Fantasies, Follies And Disasters, Manchester, work=Guardian citation
    • , passage=There are moments of profound existential angst, howls of despair at the absurd futilities of war and a sneering disgust at the soul-destroying wastage of human potential. }}
  • (uncountable) Unimportance.