root and branch
root and branch adjective: total, thorough, sweeping, complete, radical, drastic.
Adjective
root and branch (not comparable)
- Total, thorough, sweeping, complete, radical, drastic.
- When, in 1872, Sir Charles Dilke once more returned to the charge in the House of Commons, introducing a motion for a full enquiry into the Queen's expenditure with a view to a root and branch reform of the Civil List, […]1921, Lytton Strachey, Queen Victoria
- We had our chance to make incremental changes, but that time is over. Only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster.2022 October 27, Damian Carrington, quoting Inger Andersen, “Climate crisis: UN finds ‘no credible pathway to 1.5C in place’”, in The Guardian
- Synonyms:
- abject, frightful, absolute, prize, clean, arrant, categoric, categorical, complete, consummate
Adverb
root and branch (not comparable)
- Totally, completely.
- "I can't help coming, sir," continued Mrs. Parker. "Where am I to go if I don't come? Mr. Lopez, sir, has ruined us root and branch,—root and branch."1876, Anthony Trollope, chapter LV, in The Prime Minister. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC
- And far be it from me to deny that socialism is a menace. It is its purpose to wipe out, root and branch, all capitalistic institutions of present-day society.1905 April, Jack London, “(please specify the page)”, in War of the Classes, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- absolutely, all-out, tout à fait, all the way, stone-cold, blind, altogether, stark, cold, at large
root and branch meaning in Tamil and Malayalam
root and branch in Tamil
- கூண்டோடு, குலையோடே, கூட்டோடு
root and branch in Malayalam
- completely, wholly, totally
- വേരോടെ, ചോടേ, നിമൂലം, സമൂലം, നിശ്ശേഷം, പൂർണ്ണമായി
- total, complete, thorough
- സമ്പൂർണ്ണമായ, സമൂലമായ, മൊത്തമായ, മുഴുവനായ, തികഞ്ഞ, മൗലികമായ
Examples of root and branch in a sentence
- Keir Starmer has indicated the Metropolitan police might need to change its name as part of a much-needed “root and branch” review in the wake of the David Carrick case.2023 January 19, Aletha Adu, quoting Keir Starmer, “Keir Starmer suggests Met explore changing name in ‘root and branch’ review”, in The...
- In his favour, Beeching declared that he supported carrying on with the existing modernisation projects, but that the rest of the business needed root and branch reform.2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 52:
Synonyms of root and branch
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of root and branch
| alternative form | root-and-branch |
|---|
Origin of root and branch
From the Bible. Used as a title for the Root and Branch petition presented to the Long Parliament on December 11, 1640.
Words formed from root and branch
Questions about root and branch
- What does root and branch mean?
- Root and branch means total, thorough, sweeping, complete, radical, drastic.
- What is root and branch in Tamil?
- Root and branch in Tamil is கூண்டோடு, குலையோடே, கூட்டோடு. See Root and branch meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use root and branch in a sentence?
- Keir Starmer has indicated the Metropolitan police might need to change its name as part of a much-needed “root and branch” review in the wake of the David Carrick case.
- What part of speech is root and branch?
- Root and branch can be an adjective or an adverb.
Words near root and branch in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: root and branch (page history and authors); root and branch (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); root and branch (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset 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:
Cite this entry: “root and branch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/root_and_branch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.