gratuitous

English

Etymology

From Latin grātuītus (“free”), from Latin grātia (“favor”), grātus (“showing favor”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡɹəˈtjuː.ɪt.əs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɡɹəˈtu.ɪt.əs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

gratuitous (comparative more gratuitous, superlative most gratuitous)

1. Given freely; unearned.
   • 2023 January 11, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: castles and cathedrals”, in RAIL, number 974, page 56:

     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."

2. Unjustified or unnecessary; not called for by the circumstances.

   Synonym: uncalled-for

   gratuitous violence

   • 1983, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Never Say Never Again, spoken by Q (Alec McCowen):

     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!

Synonyms

(given freely):

• free
• gratis

(not called for by the circumstances):

• unjustified
• groundless
• baseless
• unfounded
• unnecessary

Antonyms

• onerous

Coordinate terms

• superfluous

Derived terms

• gratuitously
• gratuitousness
• gratuitous praise
• gratuitous violence

Related terms

• gratis
• gratuity

Translations

given freely

• Bulgarian: безплатен (bg) (bezplaten), безкористен (bg) (bezkoristen)
• Dutch: kosteloos (nl), gratis (nl)
• Finnish: ilmainen (fi), vastikkeeton (fi)
• French: gratuit (fr)
• German: gratis (de), kostenlos (de), geschenkt (de), frei (de), unentgeltlich (de), unverdient
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀδάπανος (adápanos)

• Hebrew: חִנָּם (he) (ẖinnám)
• Portuguese: gratuito (pt)
• Romanian: gratuit (ro), gratis (ro)
• Russian: беспла́тный (ru) (besplátnyj), безвозмездный (ru) (bezvozmezdnyj), незаслуженный (ru) (nezaslužennyj)
• Turkish: ücretsiz (tr)

not called for by the circumstances

• Bulgarian: ненужен (bg) (nenužen), безпричинен (bg) (bezpričinen)
• Danish: unødvendig
• Dutch: ongegrond (nl), gratuit (nl)
• Finnish: tarpeeton (fi), perusteeton (fi), aiheeton (fi)
• French: gratuit (fr)
• German: unnötig (de), überflüssig (de), nutzlos (de), willkürlich (de), grundlos (de), beliebig (de), unerwünscht (de), unaufgefordert (de), unbegründet (de)
• Hebrew: חִנָּם (he) (ẖinnám)
• Hungarian: indokolatlan (hu), fölösleges (hu)
• Maori: pokerehū
• Persian: بی‌جا (bi-jâ), الکی (fa) (alaki), بیخودی (fa) (bi-xodi)
• Romanian: nejustificat (ro), arbitrar (ro), gratis (ro)
• Russian: беспричинный (ru) (bespričinnyj), необосно́ванный (ru) (neobosnóvannyj)
• Swedish: meningslös (sv), ogrundad (sv), omotiverad (sv), oberättigad (sv), oförtjänt (sv), onödig (sv), opåkallad (sv)
• Turkish: fuzuli (tr), gereksiz (tr), lüzumsuz (tr)

Further reading

• “gratuitous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “gratuitous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.