gratuitous
adjective
Roger L'EstrangeCurrent Biography
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These Gratuitous Facts Are Free
Like gratitude, grace, and congratulate, gratuitous is a descendant of the Latin word gratus, which means "pleasing" or "grateful." When gratuitous was first used in the 17th century, it meant "free" or "given without return benefit or compensation." The extended meaning "done without good reason" or "unwarranted" came about just a few decades later, perhaps from the belief held by some people that one should not give something without getting something in return. Today, that extended meaning is the more common sense, employed, for example, when graphic cruelty depicted in a work of fiction is described as "gratuitous violence," or when unkind words better left unsaid are described as "a gratuitous insult."
Examples of gratuitous in a Sentence
Ben Croll, Variety, 22 Jan. 2025
But with Paramount yet to open the film in Japan in France, and to use the topically gratuitous metaphor, Better Man’s monkey could still swing (on streaming services if not theatrically).
—Chris Lee, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2025
There were some Kiefer Sherwood shenanigans, a gratuitous Tom Wilson takedown of J.T. Miller and Dubois getting an extra lick in on Hughes for good measure.
—Thomas Drance, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
Only to spend my money on senseless, completely gratuitous experiences, without zebras or anything.
—Christian Kracht, Harper's Magazine, 2 Nov. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Gratuitous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gratuitous. Accessed 29 Jan. 2025.
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gratuitous
adjective
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