radical
/ˈɹædɪkəl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈɹadɪkəl/
radical adjective: of or pertaining to the root of a plant.
Adjective
radical (comparative more radical, superlative most radical)
- Of or pertaining to the root of a plant.
- Of or pertaining to the root of a word.
- Produced using the root of the tongue.
- Relating to a radix or mathematical root.
- a radical quantity; a radical sign
- Pertaining to the basic or intrinsic nature of something.
- The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only showed their radical independence.1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- fundamental
- Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter.
- His beliefs are radical.
- Thoroughgoing; far-reaching.
- The spread of the cancer required radical surgery, and the entire organ was removed.
- Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the...2012 January, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 26 Jan 2012, page 70
- Involving free radicals.
- Synonyms:
- primitive
- Excellent; awesome.
- That was a radical jump!
- Synonyms:
- rad
Noun
radical (plural radicals)
- A root (of a number or quantity).
- In logographic writing systems such as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a character (if any) that provides an indication of its meaning, as opposed to being wholly phonetic.
- Synonyms:
- semantophore
- Any component of a logographic character, whether used for indexing or not, whether semantic or not.
- The boy recognised the Chinese characters, though the calligraphy looked a bit strange, as if drawn by someone who had seen them and copied them out radical by radical without knowing what they meant.2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel, HarperVoyager, page 9
- Synonyms:
- component
- In Celtic languages, the basic, underlying form of an initial consonant which can be further mutated under the Celtic initial consonant mutations.
- In Semitic languages, any one of the set of consonants (typically three) that make up a root.
- A group of atoms, joined by covalent bonds, that take part in reactions as a single unit.
- A free radical.
- Given an ideal I in a commutative ring R, another ideal, denoted Rad(I) or √, such that an element x ∈ R is in Rad(I) if, for some positive integer n, xⁿ ∈ I; equivalently, the intersection of all prime ideals containing I.
- Given a ring R, an ideal containing elements of R that share a property considered, in some sense, "not good".
- The intersection of maximal submodules of a given module.
- The product of the distinct prime factors of a given positive integer.
- A member of the most progressive wing of the Liberal Party; someone favouring social reform (but generally stopping short of socialism).
- A member of an influential, centrist political party favouring moderate social reform, a republican constitution, and secular politics.
- A person with radical opinions.
radical meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
radical in Hindi
- 6. favouring fundamental change
- उग्रवादी ugravādī, चरमपंथी carampanthī, अतिवादी ativādī, इंतहापसंद inthāpsand
- 13. person with radical opinions
- उग्रवादी ugravādī, चरमपंथी carampanthī, अतिवादी ativādī, इंतहापसंद inthāpsand
radical in Tamil
- அடிப்படை மாற்றம் விழைவோர், அடிப்படையான, உள்ளியல்பார்ந்த, சமத்தொடுகோட்டுக்குரிய, சமத்தொடுக்கோட்டுக்குரிய, அடியோடு
radical in Marathi
- कट्टरपंथी, आमूलाग्र
radical in Urdu
- radical
- اصل asl
More languagesFewer languages
- radical in Bengali
- শব্দমূল, মূলক, অপরিবর্তনীয় পরমাণুবিশেষ, ভিত্তিগত
- radical in Telugu
- రాడికల్
- radical in Malayalam
- വേരിനെ സംബന്ധിച്ച, ധാതു സംബന്ധിയായ, പൂർണ്ണമായ, അടിസ്ഥാനപരമായ
- radical in Kannada
- ಸುಧಾರಣಾವಾದಿ, ತೀವ್ರಗಾಮಿ, ತೀವ್ರಗಾಮಿ ಪಕ್ಷದವನು, ಮೂಲದ
- radical in Punjabi
- ਕੱਟਡ਼ਪੰਥੀ, ਕੱਟਡ਼ਵਾਦੀ
- radical in Gujarati
- આમૂલ, કટ્ટરપંથી, રેડિકલ
- radical in Odia
- ଉଗ୍ରବାଦୀ
- radical in Nepali
- कट्टरपन्थी, कट्टरपंथी
- radical in Tagalog
- pang-ugat, mulipon
- radical in Arabic
- جَذْريّ, رَادِيكَالِيّ rādīkāliyy
- radical in Malay
- radikal
- radical in Indonesian
- radikal
- radical in Persian
- رادیکال râdikâl
- radical in Vietnamese
- cấp tiến, bộ thủ, gốc tự do
Examples of radical in a sentence
- The key to his proposal is that he thinks this company is dying and needs radical change.
- The radical group voted to divorce itself from the main faction and start an independent movement.
- Historical dictators are glorified in some countries that are dictatorships and by some political radicals.
Synonyms of radical
Antonyms
Forms of radical
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more radical |
| superlative | most radical |
| Noun | |
| plural | radicals |
Origin of radical
PIE word *wréh₂ds Inherited from Middle English radical, from Latin rādīcālis (“of or pertaining to the root, having roots, radical”). Compare grassroots.
Words formed from radical
- antiradical
- biradical
- counterradical
- nonradical
- tetraradical
- ultraradical
- deradical
- dudical
- equiradical
- extraradical
- hyperradical
- intraradical
- multiradical
- postradical
- radical anion
- radical axis
- radical cation
- radical center
- radical centrism
- radical centrist
- radical chic
- radical empiricism
- radical empiricist
- radical feminism
- radical feminist
- radical hysterectomy
- radical ion
- radicalise
- radicalish
- radical Islam
- radicalism
- radicalistic
- radicality
- radicalization
- radicalize
- radical line
- radically
- radical mastectomy
- radicalness
- radical plane
- radical pluralism
- radical prostatectomy
- radical reform
- radical right
- radical vinegar
- radicool
- semiradical
- unradical
- aminoxyl radical
- aminyl radical
- Artinian radical
- Baer radical
- Bring radical
- Brown–McCoy radical
- coradical
- diradical
- free radical
- heteroradical
- Jacobson radical
- Kangxi radical
Phrases with radical
- radical axes
- radical ions
- radical ideal
- radical lines
- radical anions
- radical ideals
- radical planes
- radical cations
- radical centers
- radical centrists
- radical feminisms
- radical feminists
6 more phrasesFewer phrases
Questions about radical
- What does radical mean?
- Radical means of or pertaining to the root of a plant.
- What is radical in Hindi?
- Radical in Hindi is उग्रवादी (ugravādī), चरमपंथी (carampanthī), अतिवादी (ativādī). See Radical meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is radical?
- Radical can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce radical?
- Radical is pronounced /ˈɹædɪkəl/.
Words near radical in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: radical (page history and authors); radical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); radical (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); اصل (Urdu) (page history and authors); radical (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); radical (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); radical (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); radical (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); radical (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); radical (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); radical (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); radical (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-radical.ogg.
Cite this entry: “radical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/radical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.