gratuitous
adjUK /ɡɹəˈtjuː.ɪt.əs/ · US /ɡɹəˈtu.ɪt.əs/
Etymology From Latin grātuītus (“free”), from Latin grātia (“favor”), grātus (“showing favor”).
1
Given freely; unearned.
- Also mentioned is the Rev. T. Stock, who has a tablet in St John's church [Gloucester] and "who with Raikes established the four original Sunday schools in this parish ... in 1780. From this small beginning sprung that gratuitous system of Christian instruction which has covered the face of England and Wales with schools."2023 January 11, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: castles and cathedrals”, in RAIL, number 974, page 56:
2
Unjustified or unnecessary; not called for by the circumstances.
- gratuitous violence
- Good to see you Mr. Bond. Things've been awfully dull 'round here. […] Now you're on this. I hope we're going to have some gratuitous sex and violence!1983, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Never Say Never Again, spoken by Q (Alec McCowen):
3
In linguistic criticism extraneous, interpolated.
- Synonyms
- free, gratis, unjustified, groundless, baseless, unfounded, unnecessary
- Antonyms
- onerous
- Derived terms
- gratuitously, gratuitousness, gratuitous praise, gratuitous violence, nongratuitous, semigratuitous
- Coordinate terms
- superfluous