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Glite Dictionary
to deracinate

to deracinate

1 9.9
To remove people completely from their homeland and culture
  • verb
  • /ˌdɛrəˈsɪneɪt/
  • Formal
translation icon : desarraigar
  • The in-between, hybridized characters are deracinated, left with the feeling of rootlessness and in transit between two cultures with a lack of belonging.

And and no, no, you, I will not have the entire landscape deracinated and then the worst ideas tried again.

Examples

  • And if they didn't, they deserved to be deracinated; their leaders supported Hitler.

    Blog text (26)

  • They undermine traditional life and they deracinate society.

    The Believer (2001)

  • In each case, the judgment is race, an abstraction that deracinates the individual.

    Blog text (29)

  • Such a history has its own inexorable logic, and she was, at the end, completely deracinated.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Fearing resistance from aboriginal communities, Indian agents were often reluctant to deracinate half-breeds living on their reserves.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Yoslyn Orgega doesn't seem to fit the profile of a deracinated Third World immigrant who can't cope with life in the affluent West.

    Blog text (19)

  • Yoslyn Ortega doesn't seem to fit the profile of a deracinated Third World immigrant who can't cope with life in the affluent West.

    Blog text (19)

  • Many Indigenous peoples have been deracinated due to colonization and displacement from their ancestral lands.

  • The war forced thousands to deracinate, leaving their homes and cultures behind.

  • As globalization spreads, some traditions risk being deracinated as people adopt new ways of life.

Synonyms

to uproot
vsto deracinate
38 4.4

To pull a plant out of the ground or force people to leave home

is focused on removing people from their native homeland and culture
to root out
vsto deracinate
1 4.0

Pull a plant up from the ground so it cannot grow back

applies mainly to removing people from their homeland rather than a physical digging act
to extirpate
vsto deracinate
  • Formal
1 9.9

To destroy something completely, including its root

refers specifically to removing people from their native culture rather than general destruction

Antonyms

to settle
463 2.5

To live in a place, often for a long time

to root
21 5.1

To settle and start living in one place

How Uprooted

to deracinate
  • Formal
1 9.9
to uproot
38 4.4
to displace
140 5.5
to remove
∞ 1.5

Surface Forms

deracinate infinitive
deracinated past
deracinated past participle
deracinating present participle
deracinates third person singular

Morphology

deracinate = de + racin + ate

The prefix 'de-' (remove) and suffix '-ate' (verb-former) are productive and signal the general sense of removing, but the central element 'racin' (from French/Latin for 'root') is not a standalone English word, so learners cannot fully derive the meaning from familiar English components.

Etymology

Deracinate comes from Latin parts de- meaning 'away' and radix meaning 'root'. So to deracinate someone is like the English word 'uproot': you remove them completely from their home or culture.