A less gratuitous and scandalous injustice triggered the French Revolution. He stood on the bank of the small river, whose clear water showed how the fish whistled back and forth, as if playing for no reason. While the legislation could have prevented such gratuitous abuses, digitization would also allow authorities to target where every penny of each stimulus payment went and what it accomplished. His story is largely free of gratuitous violence and gratuitous sex. Mary Manley died; An English author, of considerable reputation as a writer, but of a gratuitous and unbridled character. You are only encouraging him in his gratuitous misdeeds, and no one pays attention to how he torments my poor Margaret. Find out which words work together and create more natural English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Even in liberal oases like California, many saw what they saw as an unacceptable increase in public disorder — free homeless camps, burglaries, needles on sidewalks — and voted accordingly. Definition of the Oxford Adjective Deliberate Advanced Learner`s Dictionary Lind ruled that evidence that al-Qaeda had obtained information about WikiLeaks was also relevant to proving a “free publication.” One of the reasons why Vikings are perceived so negatively is that their violence can seem gratuitous or irrational. The new movie Pacific Rim has brought robots back into our collective consciousness as gratuitous property damage. Wanton describes something excessive, uncontrolled, and sometimes even cruel.

The headmistress sees a food fight as a gratuitous act of vandalism carried out in defiance of the rules, but the children might simply see it as a pleasure. Wanton comes from Old English wan – “lack” and togen “to train, discipline”, in other words, “lack of discipline”. Deliberate extravagance is excessive and unchecked, while a wanton act of terrorism is accidental and intentionally cruel. Sometimes you will see in older novels that the term gratuitous is used as a disapproving term to describe someone who is considered promiscuous, a usage that is now considered old-fashioned. Wanton (simple third-person singular presence wantons, present participle wantoning, past simple and past participle wantoned) Better yet, riding old motorcycles doesn`t mean you have to give up the pleasures of free consumption. The problem isn`t necessarily the presence of mosquitofish in these ecosystems, Polverino says, but their gratuitous behavior, made possible by a lack of predators. Because the Christian considers the hooligan, the thief, the destitute and the drunkard as men and women who have done wrong. For more than a decade, his teaching often took place in an atmosphere of what one cadet called a “gratuitous lack of respect.” Search for any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner`s Dictionary app. Find the answers online with Practical English Usage, your go-to guide to problems in English. From Middle English wantoun, wantowen, wantoȝen, wantowe (“uneducated; unbridled; neglected; boisterous; playful”), from wan- (“not, un-, mis-“) + towen, i-towen (“educated”, literally “dragged; LED; drawn”), from Old English togen, ġetogen, past participle of tēon (“train, discipline”), corresponds to wan- + drag. Note: The terms “wilful recklessness” and “willful” are often used to refer to a level of aggravated negligence that borders on intent and is often grounds for awarding punitive damages. From “lechery” to “something that is expensive and not necessary” Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press! Middle English, from wan- deficient, wrong, mis- (from Old English, from wan deficient) + towen, past participle of the adolescent draw, train, discipline, from Old English tÄon to more at the tow entrance 1.