"gratuitous" = 'free' ?

[Mark Mandel]

Thanks, everyone, for the quick and helpful responses. It seems clear,
then, that the "free of charge" meaning is obsolescent in
non-specialist use. For the purposes of this lexicon, I'll recommend
not using "gratuitous" in that sense at all.

--
Mark Mandel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org