root


Definition: Meaning of, root in English to English dictionary.

Pronunciation: / ruːt /

  • noun
  • synonym
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Word Forms:
Singular Plural
root roots
[countable]
  1. plant the part of a plant or tree that grows under the ground and gets water from the soil
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  2. cause of a problem the main cause of a problem
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  3. origin/main part the origin or main part of something such as a custom, law, activity etc, from which other things have developed
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  4. family connection somebody's roots your relation to a place because you were born there, or your family used to live there
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  5. put down roots if you put down roots somewhere, you start to feel that a place is your home and to have relationships with the people there
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  6. tooth/hair etc the part of a tooth, hair etc that connects it to the rest of your body
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  7. take root if an idea, method, activity etc takes root, people begin to accept or believe it, or it begins to have an effect
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  8. take root if a plant takes root, it starts to grow where you have planted it
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  9. have a (good) root round British English informal to search for something by moving other things around
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  10. language technical the basic part of a word which shows its main meaning, to which other parts can be added. For example, the word 'coldness' is formed from the root 'cold' and the SUFFIX 'ness' [↪  stem]
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  11. mathematics technical a number that, when multiplied by itself a certain number of times, equals the number that you have
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  12. root and branch if you destroy or change something root and branch, you get rid of it or change it completely and permanently because it is bad
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  • verb
  • synonym
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Word Forms:
Prsesent Past Past Participle
root rooted rooted
Present Participle Third Person Singular
rooting roots
  1. plant [intransitive] to grow roots
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  2. plant [transitive usually passive] if a plant is rooted somewhere, it is held in the ground firmly by its roots
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  3. be rooted in something to have developed from something and be strongly influenced by it
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  4. search [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to search for something by moving things around [=  rummage]
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  5. pigs [intransitive usually + adverb/preposition] if a pig roots somewhere, it looks for food under the ground
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  6. rooted to the spot/floor/ground etc so shocked, surprised, or frightened that you cannot move
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root used in phrases

  • Culvers root (noun)
    1. a tall perennial herb having spikes of small white or purple flowers; common in eastern North America
  • adventitious root (noun)
    1. root growing in an unusual location e.g. from a stem
  • ague root (noun)
    1. colicroot having a scurfy or granuliferous perianth and white flowers; southeastern United States
  • anterior root (noun)
    1. one of two the two roots of a spinal nerve that passes ventrally from the spinal cord and that consists of motor fibers
  • black root rot fungus (noun)
    1. fungus causing black root rot in apples
  • blueberry root (noun)
    1. tall herb of eastern North America and Asia having blue berrylike fruit and a thick knotty rootstock formerly used medicinally
  • brown root rot fungus (noun)
    1. fungus causing brown root rot in plants of the pea and potato and cucumber families
  • celery root (noun)
    1. grown for its thickened edible aromatic root
    2. thickened edible aromatic root of a variety of celery plant
  • cervical root syndrome (noun)
    1. an abnormal condition resulting from compression of spinal nerve roots in the neck region; involves neck pains and muscular weakness and paresthesia
  • characteristic root of a square matrix (noun)
    1. mathematics any number such that a given square matrix minus that number times the identity matrix has a zero determinant
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root used in phrasal verbs

  • root for (phrasal verb)
    1. root for someone to support someone in a game, competition etc
  • root out (phrasal verb)
    1. to find something bad or illegal and get rid of it
  • root up (phrasal verb)
    1. to pull a plant out of the ground, including its roots
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