Gratuitous means done without cause, and uncalled for. Gratuitous violence, a gratuitous insult, gratuitous detail.
It is the standard complaint against films and books: gratuitous violence is violence the story did not need. The older sense is neutral and means free of charge, which survives in gratuity and in gratis.
1adjectivegratuitousDone without cause, and uncalled for.
“His gratuitous insult to the waiter embarrassed everyone at the table.”
gratuitous is a quality.
Latin gratuitus means free or given without payment, from gratia, favour.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʷerH-
Latin
grātuītus — free
English, today
gratuitous
Built from
From Latin grātuītus (“free”), from Latin grātia (“favor”), grātus (“showing favor”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA