gratuitous

American  

[gruh-too-i-tuhs, -tyoo-] / grəˈtu ɪ təs, -ˈtyu- /

adjective

1. being without apparent reason, cause, or justification.

   It looks to me like a baseless and gratuitous insult—like you have a huge chip on your shoulder.

   Synonyms:

   gratis, groundless, unreasonable, redundant, superfluous, unnecessary

2. given, done, bestowed, or obtained without charge or payment; free; complimentary.

3. Law. given without receiving any return value.

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gratuitous British  

/ ɡrəˈtjuːɪtəs /

adjective

1. given or received without payment or obligation

2. without cause; unjustified

3. law given or made without receiving any value in return

   a gratuitous agreement

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Other Word Forms

• gratuitously adverb
• gratuitousness noun
• nongratuitous adjective
• nongratuitousness noun
• ungratuitous adjective
• ungratuitousness noun

Etymology

Origin of gratuitous

First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin grātuītus “free, freely given, spontaneous,” derivative of grātus “thankful, received with thanks” (for formation fortuitous ); -ous

Example Sentences

What makes the act of flinging himself upside down so audacious is that it’s entirely gratuitous.

From The Wall Street Journal

Banerjee also criticised what he called an excess of "gratuitous violence", arguing that "it is social media hype that is deciding the film's fate."

From Barron's

Plus, frankly, there are those within Labour who would rather he didn't come back to Westminster, such has been, as they see it, the gratuitous nature of his manoeuvring for the top job.

From BBC

I didn’t ask it to, but didn’t mind this gratuitous edit.

From The Wall Street Journal

Ms. King seeds her love story with engaging dialogue and literary references that are never pretentious or gratuitous.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• baseless
• groundless
• needless
• superfluous
• unfounded
• unjustified
• unprovoked
• unwarranted
• wanton