gratuitous

[ gruh-too-i-tuhs, -tyoo- ]

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.

gratuitous

/ 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

Derived Forms

• graˈtuitousness, noun
• graˈtuitously, adverb

Other Words From

• gra·tu·i·tous·ly adverb
• gra·tu·i·tous·ness noun
• non·gra·tu·i·tous adjective
• non·gra·tu·i·tous·ness noun
• un·gra·tu·i·tous adjective
• un·gra·tu·i·tous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of gratuitous¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of gratuitous¹

C17: from Latin grātuītus, from grātia favour

Example Sentences

What’s missing from this gratuitous adaptation, which credits Watanabe as a consultant, is the atmosphere.

From Time

Slott said that he worked with Kane on a particularly violent Two-Gun Kid issue which was censored before publishing but was then published in its gratuitous entirety in a special Gil Kane tribute issue.

From TechCrunch

While she missed Phoenix’s first-round nail-biter over New York, Sophie Cunningham entered the game and impersonated her mentor, right down to the made threes and gratuitous technical.

From FiveThirtyEight

One fellow entertainer suggested the conversion was a “gratuitous” effort to curry favor with Jewish nightclub owners and audiences.

From Washington Post

It seemed gratuitous and counter-intuitive in a story that had already inflicted more than enough suffering.

From The Daily Beast

And, in a gratuitous show of homicidal prowess, Moses kills two assassins he meets while wandering in the desert of Sinai.

From The Daily Beast

Initially, I thought, “OK, they have to throw in a wave… that looks gratuitous.”

From The Daily Beast

But God forbid a TV series premieres pushing out gratuitous emotion and gratuitous feeling.

From The Daily Beast

The Israeli soldiers, my age, sat impassively on a bench while babies cried and a man complained about gratuitous humiliation.

From The Daily Beast

A baronet scientifically skilled in pugilism, enjoyed no pleasure so much as giving gratuitous instructions in his favorite art.

From Project Gutenberg

“I dare say that looked very much like a gratuitous impertinence from—the packer,” he observed.

From Project Gutenberg

Such are the ideas which the dogma of gratuitous predestination gives of Divinity!

From Project Gutenberg

Much difficulty arose, in the distribution of gratuitous supplies of food, from the routine of the public offices.

From Project Gutenberg

In consequence, they have imagined many gratuitous suppositions to explain the union of the soul with the body.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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