Word of the Day

: February 5, 2024

gratuitous

adjective gruh-TOO-uh-tuss

What It Means

Gratuitous describes things that are not necessary, appropriate, or justified, as in "a gratuitous insult" or "a gratuitous assumption." Gratuitous can also mean "free."

// The film was criticized for its gratuitous violence.

// A local veterinary technician provides gratuitous services to the animal shelter twice a month.

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gratuitous in Context

"The Hunger Games trilogy followed Katniss Everdeen as she won a fight to the death and eventually sparked a nationwide rebellion, a dystopian treatment that explores how gratuitous violence can lead to generational trauma. While the book's topics are serious, Levithan tells Rolling Stone that much of The Hunger Games' success came from Collins' ability to respect her younger readers' ability to handle deep material, making the books reach an audience of all ages." — CT Jones, Rolling Stone, 25 Nov. 2023

Did You Know?

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."