What's the difference between gratuitous and superfluous?

Gratuitous


Definition:

  • (a.) Given without an equivalent or recompense; conferred without valuable consideration; granted without pay, or without claim or merit; not required by justice.
  • (a.) Not called for by the circumstances; without reason, cause, or proof; adopted or asserted without any good ground; as, a gratuitous assumption.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It is concluded that uric acid is the only effective physiological inducer, while its 2 and 8 thio-analogues serve as gratuitous inducers.
  • (2) It is proposed that the ability of P. putida to tolerate the unusually high degree of possible gratuitous induction observed for camphor catabolism may be related to the infrequent occurrence of bicyclic ring structures in nature.
  • (3) But one has a right to demand what purpose it fulfils," wrote the Times's critic, who felt that Bond's "blockishly naturalistic piece, full of dead domestic longueurs and slavishly literal bawdry", would "supply valuable ammunition to those who attack modern drama as half-baked, gratuitously violent and squalid".
  • (4) Induction of ethanolamine ammonia-lyase formation in Escherichia coli required both the ethanolamine and vitamin B12, and was gratuitous during growth on glycerol.
  • (5) There was a sense of it being gratuitously anti-science from someone whose locus in the debate wasn't clear.
  • (6) First, galactose repression of beta-galactosidase synthesis was markedly enhanced in bacteria tested subsequent to gratuitous induction of the galactose-degrading enzymes with d-fucose.
  • (7) L-Malate was the only physiological inducer and bromosuccinate was a gratuitous inducer of dicarboxylic acid transport in a succinic dehydrogenase deficient mutant.
  • (8) Induction of penicillinase (beta-lactamase) in Bacillus licheniformis 749 by 2-(2'-carboxyphenyl)-benzoyl-6-aminopenicillanic acid (CBAP) was examined, since this compound was reported to be a gratuitous inducer of penicillinase in Staphylococcus aureus.
  • (9) The retired appeal court judge's report, which runs to three volumes, found that troops from 1st Battalion Queen's Lancashire Regiment inflicted "gratuitous" violence on a group of 10 Iraqi civilians, who were kicked and hit in turn, "causing them to emit groans and other noises and thereby playing them like musical instruments".
  • (10) This budget isn't just going to be random pain, gratuitous pain, pain for the hell of it, sharp pain, stabbing pain ... it's pain – with a purpose.
  • (11) The authors predict a further rapid spreading of this infection in this risk group and postulated gratuitous providing of addicts with dispensable syringes and needles and condoms, and providing systematic intensive training of the personnel of dehabituation treatment institutions as well as extensive informational education of the addicts.
  • (12) Will the Australian government investigate whether it happened?” Abbott: “Well, we have very good relations with the Indonesian government and we’ve got very good cooperation with the Indonesian government when it comes to stopping people smuggling because, amongst other things, we haven’t offered the gratuitous insult to Indonesia that our predecessors did by, amongst other things, stopping the live cattle trade in panic at a television program.” Mitchell: “Prime Minister, will the Australian government investigate whether it happened?” Abbott: “Um, Neil, what we are doing is saving life at sea.
  • (13) Another person went to the gym at lunch time and couldn’t get out ... One member doesn’t have the right to revoke the pass of another member’s staff.” Chris Bryant, the former shadow leader of the House of Commons, said it was a terrible way to treat staff members, branding it petty and “vindictive, gratuitous nastiness”.
  • (14) In the absence of any known role for the products of the ilvGMEDA operon when repressing levels of branched-chain amino acids are present, there appears to be only a gratuitous role for the transcription at ilvEp.
  • (15) In half of the cases, combination of tissue signs of obstructive and calcificating pancreatitis were observed, so it is considered gratuitous to separate sharply the two forms of chronic pancreatitis.
  • (16) This compound also serves as gratuitous inducer of the catabolic acetylornithine aminotransferase.
  • (17) Their specific submission to Leveson lauded only "free speech that does no gratuitous harm".
  • (18) How can he live with himself after imposing such gratuitous pain upon the people of this nation?
  • (19) If you want to see how they turned out, pop over to Twitter where I am will posting gratuitous dough shots at @jnraeside .
  • (20) So I have a very healthy, activist general tension in me which feels that no, this is not gratuitous, it is important to keep this in focus."

Superfluous


Definition:

  • (a.) More than is wanted or is sufficient; rendered unnecessary by superabundance; unnecessary; useless; excessive; as, a superfluous price.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The tetracaine component of TAC is superfluous for obtaining topical anesthesia of minor dermal lacerations of the face in children.
  • (2) If exact indications are present, it can make a surgical intervention superfluous in selected cases.
  • (3) The surgical coordinates of the targets based on the stereotactic CT study with the Stereoadapter were on average as accurate as those obtained with ventriculography; therefore, ventriculography may become superfluous in functional stereotaxis.
  • (4) In many cases, the diagnosis is delayed, often being made only after comprehensive superfluous diagnostic procedures, sometimes invasive, and inappropriate treatment.
  • (5) 62 min Spain make a double substitution: Jesus Navas replaces the superfluous Sergio Busquets, and Fernando Torres replaces the disappointing David Silva.
  • (6) Tell me what will happen when the majority of mankind has become technologically superfluous."
  • (7) It is assumed that the neurotizing agent was the superfluous situational (photic) stimulation which presented excessive requirements to the mechanisms regulating the general functional state of the brain.
  • (8) Seen from the father's point of view, the son, on one hand represents the only solution for continuation of his life, the only possibility of victory over death, on the other hand however, he will substitute him one day, make him superfluous and eventually take his place.
  • (9) Feathering may be considered as a safety margin against spinal cord damage in medulloblastoma but it is superfluous in leukemia.
  • (10) In a later press statement, the Department of Health described the change as "a deep clean of superfluous national targets in favour of clearer, simpler standards".
  • (11) The great advances made in orthopaedic surgery over the last few decades have however not resulted in rehabilitative activity having become superfluous.
  • (12) Among reasons for inadequate numbers of doctors the author mentions in particular superfluous consulting, examinations in conjunction with assessment of the work capacity, and administrative work done by many doctors.
  • (13) Why, they ask, spend scarce public money on something that is both superfluous as a transport link and vastly expensive as a park?
  • (14) The effects of cue-load and cue-type (category and rhyming) on the cued recall of word lists were examined in amnesic and control subjects under conditions where contextual information was either important or superfluous to recall.
  • (15) For this reason a possible tooth involvement should be ruled out before therapy, loss of dental pulp of various origin and periodontal diseases should be excluded, otherwise the treatment must begin with the cause, after which further intervention is usually superfluous.
  • (16) Offering to these patients an adrenal autograft represents more than a superfluous medical exercise, since a successful outcome of the graft will relieve them of the burdens and risks of long-term postoperative steroid replacement therapy.
  • (17) The data obtained are suggestive of some "superfluity" of the protein steroid-binding site which, in turn, ensures the multifunctionality of estrophilic HSD including a possibility of an alternative orientation of steroids in their binding site.
  • (18) The findings of a questionnaire in 88 patients with 106 prostheses are presented, according to which substitution of the testis with a prosthesis is not a superfluous therapeutic procedure.
  • (19) Analysis of serial sections, and application of electron microscopic radioautography and histochemistry have suggested that these structures are associated with the nuclear envelope which is necessary for regulating the superfluous chromosome localization in the hybrid nucleus.
  • (20) Thus, the costly defibrillators delivering 400 to 800 joules now sold by 11 of 14 American manufacturers are superfluous, untested, potentially lethal devices with which to attempt ventricular defibrillation.