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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

uproot.

To tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots; to extirpate, to root up.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˌʌpˈɹuːt/Received-Pronunciation/ˌʌpˈɹut/General-American
  1. To tear up (a plant, etc.) by the roots, or as if by the roots; to extirpate, to root up.

    transitive
  2. To destroy (something) utterly; to eradicate, exterminate.

    figuratively · transitive
  3. To remove (someone or something) from a familiar circumstance, especially suddenly and unwillingly.

    figuratively · transitive
  4. Of oneself or someone: to move away from a familiar environment (for example, to live elsewhere).

    intransitive · reflexive
Where this word comes from

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”).

noun/ˌʌpˈɹuːt/Received-Pronunciation/ˌʌpˈɹut/General-American
  1. The act of uprooting something.

Where this word comes from

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”).

verb/ˌʌpˈɹuːt/Received-Pronunciation/ˌʌpˈɹut/General-American
  1. 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.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.