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Glite Dictionary
🚫 To eliminate 🌱 To remove fully
to root out

to root out

1 4.0
Pull a plant up from the ground so it cannot grow back
  • phrasal verb
  • /ruːt aʊt/
translation icon : arrancar
  • The gardener worked hard to root out the weeds from the flowerbed.

Examples

  • I have said that alchemists plot the course of each disease with its premonitory symptoms because a disease is a plant that will develop into a tree if it has not been rooted out while it is young.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The scientific community has rooted out these flaws through replication.

    Blog text (21)

  • He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep.

    Blog text (7)

  • And that's kind of a fantasy because rooting out evil in real life is much more complex and much more difficult than that.

  • Two of them, as I discovered when I rooted out Susan's Norton Anthologies from her undergraduate English courses.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • If we'd done a thorough and proper investigation of the JFK assassination 47 years ago and rooted out the behind-the-scenes Zionist bankster mafia responsible for his murder and who still run this country, 9/11 would never have happened.

    Blog text (16)

  • The team was determined to root out any corruption within the organization.

  • In order to improve the health of the garden, she decided to root out all the dead plants.

Synonyms

to pull out
vsto root out
523 2.7

To take something out of a place, often with effort

is more specific about total eradication and physical pulling from earth
to dig up
vsto root out
139 2.0

To take something out of the ground by digging

adds the sense of total elimination rather than simple recovery
to uproot
vsto root out
38 4.4

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

is the phrase for removing something entirely from its usual place
to lift
vsto root out
  • UK
21 7.5

To dig up plants or root crops from the ground for harvest

stresses removal that aims to eliminate rather than to save or replant
to dig out
vsto root out
14 3.2

Remove something that is under the ground or snow using a shovel

implies full elimination rather than just uncovering or rescuing
to force out
vsto root out
6 4.2

To push something out with effort or pressure

involves removal by force but not necessarily by pulling from the ground
to lift out
vsto root out
5 2.7

To take something out by picking it up, often carefully or with a tool

involves complete removal but often implies more forceful extraction
to extirpate
vsto root out
  • Formal
1 9.9

To destroy something completely, including its root

is more literal and physical, about pulling out from the ground
to deracinate
vsto root out
  • Formal
1 9.9

To remove people completely from their homeland and culture

is mainly physical and practical rather than cultural or figurative removal
to unroot
vsto root out
5.9

Pull something completely out of the ground by its roots

focuses on complete physical removal rather than partial extraction
to grub out
vsto root out
  • UK
6.9

To dig up roots or stumps from the ground

is broader, meaning total removal not only clearing roots
to grub up
vsto root out
  • UK
7.7

To dig up and remove plants or roots from the ground

covers full removal in many settings, not only manual digging

Antonyms

to leave alone
∞ 2.3

To avoid touching and disturbing a person, animal or object

to plant
361 1.0

To put seeds or young plants into the soil so they grow

How Complete

to eradicate
85 6.6
to root out
1 4.0
to pull up
111 3.2
to remove
∞ 1.5

Surface Forms

root out infinitive
rooted out past
rooted out past participle
rooting out present participle
roots out third person singular

Morphology

root + out

The sense 'to find and completely remove' follows directly from combining 'root' (with the physical/metaphorical sense of pulling out by the roots or uprooting) and the particle 'out' (indicating removal). This verb+particle composition and the root-uproot metaphor are cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Root out comes from gardening: you pull a plant up by its root so the whole plant comes out of the ground. That's why it means 'to pull up (a plant) by the roots' or 'to remove completely'.