English Dictionary |
UPROOT
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
IPA (US): |
Dictionary entry overview: What does uproot mean?
• UPROOT (verb)
The verb UPROOT has 3 senses:
1. move (people) forcibly from their homeland into a new and foreign environment
2. destroy completely, as if down to the roots
3. pull up by or as if by the roots
Familiarity information: UPROOT used as a verb is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Conjugation: |
Past simple: uprooted
Past participle: uprooted
-ing form: uprooting
Sense 1
Meaning:
Move (people) forcibly from their homeland into a new and foreign environment
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Synonyms:
deracinate; uproot
Context example:
The war uprooted many people
Hypernyms (to "uproot" is one way to...):
displace (cause to move, usually with force or pressure)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Sense 2
Meaning:
Destroy completely, as if down to the roots
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Synonyms:
eradicate; exterminate; extirpate; root out; uproot
Context example:
root out corruption
Hypernyms (to "uproot" is one way to...):
destroy; destruct (do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Derivation:
uprooter (a person who destroys or ruins or lays waste to)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Pull up by or as if by the roots
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Synonyms:
deracinate; extirpate; root out; uproot
Context example:
uproot the vine that has spread all over the garden
Hypernyms (to "uproot" is one way to...):
displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "uproot"):
stub (pull up (weeds) by their roots)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Context examples
You seem fine with that, even though as a fixed sign, you tend to avoid uprooting yourself.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Yes, Mrs. Reed, to you I owe some fearful pangs of mental suffering, but I ought to forgive you, for you knew not what you did: while rending my heart-strings, you thought you were only uprooting my bad propensities.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Sometimes being uprooted can be positive, for it makes us reexamine our decisions and allows us either to passionately recommit to our original goals or leave them and make new ones.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Learn English with... Proverbs |
"A handful of love is better than an oven full of bread" (Breton proverb)
"Meaningless laughter is a sign of ill-breeding." (Arabic proverb)
"Half an egg is better than an empty shell." (Dutch proverb)