Definition of UPROOT

uproot

Plural: uproots

Verb

Verb Forms: uprooted, uprooting, uproots

  • To pull something up by its roots or displace it.
  • move (people) forcibly from their homeland into a new and foreign environment
    • "The war uprooted many people"
  • destroy completely, as if down to the roots
    • "the vestiges of political democracy were soon uprooted"
  • pull up by or as if by the roots
    • "uproot the vine that has spread all over the garden"
  • To tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots; to extirpate, to root up.
  • To destroy (something) utterly; to eradicate, exterminate.
  • To remove (someone or something) from a familiar circumstance, especially suddenly and unwillingly.
  • Of oneself or someone: to move away from a familiar environment (for example, to live elsewhere).
  • Of a pig or other animal: to dig up (something in the ground) using the snout; to rummage for (something) in the ground; to grub up, to root, to rout.

Noun

  • The act of uprooting something.

Examples

  • He had to uproot his entire strategy after his triple-word score was blocked.

Origin / Etymology

PIE word
*wréh₂ds
From up- (prefix indicating a higher direction or position) + root (“to tear up by the roots; (figuratively) to remove forcibly from a place; to eradicate, exterminate”, verb). Root is derived from root (“underground part of a plant”, noun), from Middle English rote, from Old English rōt, rōte, from Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”).

Scrabble Score: 8

uproot: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
uproot: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
uproot: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

uproot: valid Words With Friends Word