Meanings
uproot1
present singular third person uproots · participle present uprooting · participle past uprooted · past uprooted
- transitiveTo tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots; to extirpate, to root up.
See now what doubt is. It is evil, and unwise, and uprooteth many from the faith; yea, though they be very strong.
1870, “The Ninth Commandment. On Prayer.”, in Charles H[olland] Hoole, transl., The Shepherd of Hermas […], London; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rivingtons, →OCLC, page 645 more examples
Mark me! the Lord's hand is stretched out, and will not be withdrawn until his nest be turned up, even as the plough uprooteth and scattereth the nest of the field-mouse and the blind mole; […]
1832, Mrs. S[amuel] C[arter] Hall [i.e., Anna Maria Hall], chapter XIV, in The Buccaneer. A Tale. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […] (late Colburn and Bentley), →OCLC, pages 272–273[S]he and Mr. Joseph Tuggs, and Miss Charlotta Tuggs, and Mr. Cymon Tuggs, with their eight feet in a corresponding number of yellow shoes, seated themselves on four rush-bottomed chairs, which, being placed in a soft part of the sand, forthwith sunk down some two feet and a half. […] Mr. Cymon, by an exertion of great personal strength, uprooted the chairs, and removed them further back.
1839, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Tuggs’s at Ramsgate”, in Sketches by “Boz” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], new edition, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 327Thou shakest the earth with the thunder of thy terror, and uprootest the huge oaks on the highest hills with the echo of thy voice.
1839, Thomas Miller, chapter VI, in Fair Rosamond; or, The Days of King Henry II. An Historical Romance; […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 106[T]hee only have I loved—for thee only have I bloomed; and when thou uprootest me from thy garden, I must wither and die.
1841 December, “The Unicorn. From the German of the Author of ‘Der Frieschutz.’”, in F. Johnston, transl., The New Monthly Belle Assemblée; a Magazine of Literature and Fashion, […], volume XV, London: […] Joseph Rogerson, →OCLC, page 354, column 2More than 50 trees fell across a ten-mile section of the line during December's Storm Darragh. In total, more than 70 fell on the line, including around 30 which were uprooted.
2025 February 5, “Network News: NR to cut back vegetation on Heart of Wales line”, in RAIL, number 1028, page 23Synonyms: deracinate, disroot, grub up, outroot, rout, unroot
- figurativelytransitiveTo destroy (something) utterly; to eradicate, exterminate.
For, having his mind set upon righteousness, and casting away maliciousness, he straightway overthroweth the evil, and uprooteth the sin.
1871, “[The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.] The Testament of Asher Concerning Two Faces of Vice and Virtue.”, in Robert Sinker, transl., edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and Fragments of the Second and Third Centuries (Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325; XXII), Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, […], →OCLC, page 622 more examples
[B]ravely bearing on, thy will / Is destined an eternal war to wage / With tyranny and falshood, and uproot / The germs of misery from the human heart.
1813, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Canto IX”, in Queen Mab; […], London: […] P. B. Shelley, […], →OCLC, page 120Moreover, Trump’s use of obvious disinformation — the amateurish video he showed Ramaphosa, and his accompanying statements about the “over a thousand” killings of white farmers — to try and make his case has uprooted whatever U.S. credibility had survived over the last several months.
2025 May 27, Thomas Carothers, “A new low on US democracy support”, in POLITICO, archived from the original on 01 Jul 2025Synonyms: annihilate, obliterate, destroy, annihilate, aerosolize, atomize, benothing, bewreck
- figurativelytransitiveTo remove (someone or something) from a familiar circumstance, especially suddenly and unwillingly.
[H]ave ye a Sultan who ruleth over you and is tyrannical in his rule and under whose hand you are; one who, if any of you commit an offence, taketh his goods and ruineth him and who, whenas he will, turneth you out of house and home and uprooteth you, stock and branch?
1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Pilgrim Man and the Old Woman”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume V, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC, page 1871 more example
The Anglification of Scotland has been proceeding apace to the damage of its education, its music, its literature, its genius, and the generation that is growing up under this influence is uprooted from its past, and, being deprived of the inspiration of its nationality, is also deprived of its communal sense.
1921, J[ames] Ramsay MacDonald, “Political Construction”, in Socialism: Critical and Constructive, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, →OCLC, page 249 - intransitivereflexiveOf oneself or someone: to move away from a familiar environment (for example, to live elsewhere).
plural uproots
- The act of uprooting something.
With the uproot of the Chinese commercial system in the 1890s such a crisis was bound to surface.
2014, Alexander Claver, Dutch Commerce and Chinese Merchants in Java, page 174
uproot2
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots; to extirpate, to root up.
verbTo destroy (something) utterly; to eradicate, exterminate.
More synonyms by meaning
verbmove (people) forcibly from their homeland into a new and foreign environment
verbdestroy completely, as if down to the roots
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
uproot · verb, noun
- Proto-Indo-European*wréh₂ds“root”
- Proto-Germanic*wrōts
- Old Norserót
- Old Englishrōt
- Middle Englishrote
- Englishuproot
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →uproot · verb
- Proto-Germanic*wrōtaną“to dig or turn up with the snout”
- Old Englishwrōtan“to dig or turn up with the snout”
- Middle Englishwroten“to dig or turn up with the snout; to remove soil, dig up”
- Englishuproot
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.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian изкоренявам, изкореня
- изкоренявам (izkorenjavam)to tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- изкореня (izkorenja)to tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- изтръгвам (iztrăgvam)to tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- изтръгна (iztrăgna)to tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- изтръгвам (iztrăgvam)to remove (someone or something) from a familiar circumstance
- изтръгна (iztrăgna)to remove (someone or something) from a familiar circumstance
- откъсвам се (otkăsvam se)of oneself or someone: to move away from a familiar environment
- откъсна се (otkăsna se)of oneself or someone: to move away from a familiar environment
Catalan arrencar, extirpar
- arrencarto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- extirparto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- desarrelarto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- desarrelarto remove (someone or something) from a familiar circumstance
Estonian juurima
- juurimato tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
Finnish juuria
- juuriato tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
German entwurzeln
- entwurzelnto remove (someone or something) from a familiar circumstance
Hebrew עָקַר, שֵׁרַשׁ
- עָקַר ('aqár)to tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- שֵׁרַשׁ (shirrésh)to tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
Hindi उखाड़ना
- उखाड़ना (ukhāṛnā)to tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
Latin ērādīcō
- ērādīcōto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
Māori ranga
- rangato tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
Polish wykorzeniać, wykorzenić
- wykorzeniaćto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- wykorzenićto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
Spanish desraizar, desarraigar
- desraizarto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- desarraigarto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- derraigarto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- desenraizarto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- desceparto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
- desarraigarto remove (someone or something) from a familiar circumstance
Turkish köklemek
- köklemekto tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with uproot
Cite this entry
uproot. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/uproot
“uproot.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/uproot. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “uproot,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/uproot.
Source: uproot on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.