How to Use gratuitous in a Sentence

gratuitous

adjective
  • The film was criticized for its gratuitous violence.
  • A local veterinary technician provides gratuitous services to the animal shelter twice a month.
  • Boussy was in the right place as a gratuitous bounce put the ball right in front of her.
    — Eric Bem, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 22 Sep. 2021
  • But even among the very rich there are taboos around gratuitous spending.
    — Ashley Mears, The Economist, 26 June 2020
  • But even among the very rich there are taboos around gratuitous spending.
    — 1843, 25 June 2020
  • But this is not the kind of movie that hinges on abrupt reveals or gratuitous twists.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 14 May 2025
  • This was not going to be gratuitous.
    — Shyla Watson, PEOPLE, 20 Apr. 2026
  • What’s more, the gratuitous is its very subject.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 15 Oct. 2025
  • That crime is the novel’s link to the conceit of the gratuitous.
    — Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2019
  • Taking away someone’s right to vote on top of that just seems gratuitous.
    — Danielle Allen, Harper's Magazine, 27 Oct. 2020
  • There’s no sign of mistreatment or gratuitous harm telling you to step in.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 31 Mar. 2024
  • Nothing’s gratuitous or just kind of popped in there and see what happens.
    — Senior Editor, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025
  • Lawrence is doing his best to take it all in stride, but some hurdles can seem gratuitous.
    — Lily Hay Newman, Wired, 15 Sep. 2020
  • Doing it again would just be gratuitous and that won’t happen.
    — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2024
  • All that pregame chatter about his standout camp seemed like gratuitous fluff.
    — Chris Fedor, cleveland, 13 Dec. 2020
  • Nothing in this book is gratuitous.
    — Literary Hub, 19 Dec. 2025
  • There was nothing gratuitous about it.
    — Corey Seymour, Vogue, 9 Dec. 2025
  • Or, is this something that just feels gratuitous or salacious?
    — Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Mar. 2023
  • The show is bloody and has lots of fights (with weapons, fists and special powers) but avoids gratuitous gore.
    — Common Sense Media, Washington Post, 29 Sep. 2023
  • Something had to be wrong; childbirth could not be this gratuitous and cruel.
    — Seija Rankin, EW.com, 7 Oct. 2020
  • There basically isn’t a scene in any of your movies that isn’t gratuitous.
    — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2023
  • To me, that kind of gratuitous violence sends a very strange message.
    — Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Oct. 2019
  • There's no room for gratuitous kindness at the Olympics, Bruno.
    — Justin Kirkland, Esquire, 13 Feb. 2018
  • Far from being gratuitous, such scenes are, in the author’s telling, the whole point of the novel.
    — Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2022
  • Was the mention of Louise gratuitous?
    — Dan Chiasson, The New York Review of Books, 22 Apr. 2026
  • This is, frankly, a tad gratuitous and very messy, since there’s no way to eat this without coating your hands in beefy juices.
    — Nick Kindelsperger, Chicago Tribune, 3 Nov. 2022
  • To call them meetings seemed gratuitous, but Nella wasn't in the mood to go down that slippery slope.
    — Rachel Epstein, Marie Claire, 1 June 2021
  • That’s not a gratuitous question, given King’s past.
    — John Blake, CNN Money, 18 Jan. 2026
  • Of course, the loosening of self-censorship also led to a whole lot of gratuitous junk.
    — The Mercury News, 24 May 2017
  • In the first six episodes, three gratuitous birth scenes included two that ended in the death of both mother and baby.
    — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gratuitous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: