If you describe something as gratuitous, you mean that it is unnecessary, and often harmful or upsetting. There's too much crime and gratuitous violence on TV.

What does it mean if something is gratuitous?

1 : not called for by the circumstances : not necessary, appropriate, or justified : unwarranted a gratuitous insult a gratuitous assumption a movie criticized for gratuitous violence.

What is gratuitous behavior?

(of something such as bad behavior) not necessary, or with no cause: A lot of viewers complained that there was too much gratuitous sex and violence in the movie. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.