gratuitously
Americanadverb
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without apparent reason, cause, or justification.
The chase scene seems gratuitously thrown in for the sake of an action sequence.
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without charge or payment; freely or voluntarily.
Love is a spontaneous gift that cannot be earned—it is gratuitously given.
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Law. without receiving any return value.
The plaintiff must show that they will be forced to either hire someone to perform such household services or have someone perform them gratuitously.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of gratuitously
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.
The rest of it – her status as “the enemy,” reviews that read to her as gratuitously nasty – doesn’t trouble her anymore.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 31, 2026
In the middle are two young society beauties wearing the new clingy fashions with uncaricatured style, but amongst the mixed-sex groups that mill around them are gratuitously padded older women.
From Slate • Jul. 21, 2025
Yet her chronic issue is that she complains gratuitously, stacking her gripes into a wall so that even the people who want to help — a doctor, a dentist — give up.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2025
Alicia Keys had just appeared, in a sequined red jumpsuit and matching encrusted gown, and rather gratuitously flubbed the opening note of her hit piano ballad “If I Ain’t Got You.”
From New York Times • Feb. 11, 2024
“I came to tell you like you said. I—I got ’em at Ginsberg’s,” she added gratuitously.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
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.
