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grassroots

grassroots

51 4.4
Involving ordinary people who support a movement or campaign
  • adjective
  • /ˈɡræsˌruts/
translation icon : de base
  • It was a grassroots movement, fueled by the power of the Internet and the cult of personality.
  • a grassroots movement
  • a grassroots organization
  • grassroots support

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Examples

  • MAGA is truly a grassroots organization.

  • McAleer: it was a big win for this grassroots organization.

  • Now we can all work together and and create a global grassroots network.

  • It's sort of what every television show would dream of having this, this bottom up grassroots fan culture.

  • It's very organic kind of grassroots community building, right?

  • And I think we're starting to see the sort of grassroots momentum building in communities.

  • Like many grassroots organizations that are founded and led by black women.

  • Third, local election systems, or grassroots democracy, can be improved.

    Academic text (1993)
  • These things don't happen without real grassroots support.

  • The grassroots campaign mobilized the community to support local initiatives.

Synonyms

grass roots
vsgrassroots
  • Informal
4 3.3

Ordinary people in a community who support or begin change at the local level

is the same meaning but written as two separate words

Antonyms

9 6.0

A way that starts with a general idea and goes to details

How Grassroots

grassroots
51 4.4
institutional
98 4.5
elite
258 4.7

Surface Forms

grassroots positive

Morphology

grassroots = grass + root (semi-transparent) = grass + root

The compound is structurally clear, but its modern political/organizational meaning is a conventional metaphor rather than a fully literal combination.

Etymology

Grassroots comes from a simple image: grass and its roots at ground level, the lowest part of the land. So a grassroots movement is one that starts 'from the ground up' with ordinary people, not from leaders or big organizations.