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Glite Dictionary
gratuitously

gratuitously

5 7.9
In a way that has no good reason and is unnecessary
  • adverb
  • /ɡrəˈtuːɪtəsli/
translation icon : gratuitamente
  • No matter what, it was a gratuitously cruel comment, designed to hurt, and it did.

The message is don't gratuitously take us to the past.

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Examples

  • Her judgments, harsh as they often are, never seem gratuitously cruel.

    Academic text (2000)

  • "... it's never OK to gratuitously attempt to hurt the feelings of large groups of people."

    Blog text (1)

  • In the process, we gratuitously antagonize others, especially our friends.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The points Cummings wanted to make were delicate enough; his manner in making them was gratuitously offensive.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Just thought too many remarks on those threads yesterday were gratuitously mean and not very clever.

    Blog text (29)

  • Some movies are so gratuitously cheesy that you can't help but fall in love with them.

    Blog text (25)

  • What you did was gratuitously provoke and offend people just to get attention for yourself.

    Blog text (1)

  • His comments were gratuitously offensive, making everyone in the room uncomfortable.

  • The film included scenes that were gratuitously violent and added nothing to the plot.

  • She apologized for her gratuitously harsh feedback, realizing it was unnecessary.

Synonyms

unnecessarily
vsgratuitously
48 3.7

Without a good reason

focuses on absence of good reason rather than merely not being required
inappropriately
vsgratuitously
45 4.5

In a way that is not right for the situation

concerns lack of justification rather than unsuitability for the situation
needlessly
vsgratuitously
34 3.9

Without a good reason

is about lack of good reason rather than strict lack of need
unwarrantedly
vsgratuitously
1 8.2

Without a good reason or any right to do it

is broader and means done without good reason rather than lacking legal support
unwarrantably
vsgratuitously
9.9

In a way that has no good reason

is the general idea of lacking good reason rather than legal or formal grounds

Antonyms

reasonably
72 2.4

In a sensible way that shows good judgment

justifiably
17 4.6

For a good reason that can be shown to be right

How Necessary

necessarily
∞ 3.7
justifiably
17 4.6
gratuitously
5 7.9
unnecessarily
48 3.7
pointlessly
4 4.3

Surface Forms

gratuitously positive

Morphology

gratuitously = gratuitous (semi-transparent) = gratuit + ous + ly

The adverb is formed by the regular addition of -ly to the adjective 'gratuitous', a standard and predictable derivation.

Etymology

The word gratuitously comes from the Latin gratuitus, which meant 'given for free', and is related to English words like gratuity 'a tip' and gratitude 'thankfulness'. Because the root meant 'given without payment or cause', gratuitously now often means 'done without good reason' or 'unnecessary', so think 'given for no reason'.