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
• That crime is the novel’s link to the conceit of the gratuitous.
  — Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2019
• The gratuitous looks at the pectoral region is just a bonus.
  — Nick Romano, EW.com, 17 Sep. 2019
• Imagine the impact of this gratuitous slur in the nation of Pushkin, Tchaikovsky, and Mendeleev.
  — Leon Aron, National Review, 11 Nov. 2023
• 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
• There's no room for gratuitous kindness at the Olympics, Bruno.
  — Justin Kirkland, Esquire, 13 Feb. 2018
• But even among the very rich there are taboos around gratuitous spending.
  — Ashley Mears, The Economist, 26 June 2020
• 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
• The staff at Dai Due know this feeling, which is why their burger rests on a gratuitous serving of the stuff.
  — Oset Babur, GQ, 22 Oct. 2017
• Clearly, there is a lot wrong with this gratuitous claim.
  — Danielle Sinay, Glamour, 15 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
• The kills are brutal and the nudity is gratuitous — which is Friday the 13th in a nutshell.
  — Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 13 Oct. 2023
• There’s no sign of mistreatment or gratuitous harm telling you to step in.
  — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 31 Mar. 2024
• Spread the gravy as one would mustard on a pastrami sandwich and the thing might get a tad gratuitous.
  — Andy Staples, SI.com, 30 June 2017
• Honestly, the new faceted design is a bit gratuitous, as a USB-C slot at the side or rear of the notebook is just fine.
  — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, 23 Oct. 2018
• Lawrence is doing his best to take it all in stride, but some hurdles can seem gratuitous.
  — Lily Hay Newman, Wired, 15 Sep. 2020
• Taking away someone’s right to vote on top of that just seems gratuitous.
  — Danielle Allen, Harper's Magazine, 27 Oct. 2020
• She's not put in in a gratuitous way or throwaway moment.
  — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 17 Dec. 2019
• The culprit, more often than not: a gratuitous amount of pitching changes.
  — Dennis Lin, sandiegouniontribune.com, 13 Sep. 2017
• 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 me, that kind of gratuitous violence sends a very strange message.
  — Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Oct. 2019
• 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
• The mother of four says that their musical doesn’t warrant more than a PG-13 rating and that the cussing isn’t gratuitous.
  — Anne Kniggendorf, Kansas City Star, 31 Jan. 2024
• For the survivors, the thought that the killings are entirely gratuitous is unbearable.
  — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
• Doing it again would just be gratuitous and that won’t happen.
  — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2024
• There basically isn’t a scene in any of your movies that isn’t gratuitous.
  — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2023
• Besides, the plot itself proves twisty enough that any gratuitous flourishes would have felt too much like gilding the lily.
  — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 9 Sep. 2024
• There is a thin line between gratuitous and tasteful, maudlin and real, and that line is not located in the same place for every viewer.
  — Eliza Berman, TIME, 11 Oct. 2024

Last Updated: 5 Dec 2024