Link Centre Dictionary

uproot

up·root

UK/ˌʌpˈɹuːt/ US/ˌʌpˈɹut/ uncommon

verb

1.

move (people) forcibly from their homeland into a new and foreign environment

  • “The war uprooted many people”
Synonyms
2.

destroy completely, as if down to the roots

  • “the vestiges of political democracy were soon uprooted”
  • “root out corruption”
Synonyms
3.

pull up by or as if by the roots

  • “uproot the vine that has spread all over the garden”
Synonyms

Origin

From up- (prefix indicating a higher direction or position) + root (“of a pig or other animal: to dig or turn up with the snout; to search as if by digging in soil, rummage”, verb). Root is derived from Middle English wroten (“to dig or turn up with the snout; to remove soil, dig up”), from Old English wrōtan (“to dig or turn up with the snout”), from Proto-Germanic *wrōtaną (“to dig or turn up with the snout”); further etymology uncertain.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.