From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgratuitousgra‧tu‧i‧tous /ɡrəˈtjuːɪtəs $ -ˈtuː-/ adjective said or done without a good reason, in a way that offends someone SYN unnecessary children’s books which include gratuitous violence —gratuitously adverb There is no point in gratuitously antagonizing people.
Examples from the Corpus
gratuitous• The effect produced is the more telling because no gratuitous comment disturbs the images.• Radcliffe accuses members of Bravo Two Zero of gratuitous exaggeration.• Local authorities and trade unions will need to respond to gratuitous fault finding and undermining of political leadership.• It was a completely gratuitous insult -- I hadn't said anything to offend her.• There's no point in exchanging gratuitous insults with them.• The gratuitous killing of dolphins must be stopped.• But of course I realized that this would be a pretty gratuitous move, under the circumstances.• After three days of sniping and gratuitous pettiness, they allow Matty the very beginning of June or the very end.• He has criticised the film industry for its use of gratuitous sex and violence.• The network refused to televise the film because it contained too much gratuitous violence.gratuitous violence• He was well-known for his unsolicited and gratuitous violence.• Some performance art does contain gratuitous violence.• Student demonstrations developed an ugly edge of gratuitous violence.• That marks the public's revulsion at acts of gratuitous violence against innocent victims.• Within a short period of time, gratuitous violence has become commonplace.• Largely the element of gratuitous violence is also missing.• Football, with its litany of gratuitous violence, is the culprit.From Longman Business Dictionarygratuitousgra‧tu‧i‧tous /grəˈtjuːətəs-ˈtuː-/ adjective LAW given or done without receiving anything in returnInheritance tax is concerned with gratuitous transactions.Origin gratuitous (1600-1700) Latin gratuitus, from gratus; → GRATEFUL 