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rootless

rootless

5 6.4
Having no permanent home or close ties to a place
  • adjective
  • /ˈruːtləs/
translation icon : sin raíces
  • Followers of the Salafi tended to be lower middle class and, even more often, rootless, jobless youths.
  • rootless and mobile

And therefore, you know, how can our philosophy, our religion, if it's rootless in nature, how can it really be true?

Examples

  • For too many years, she and Maggot had been rootless, blown about from place to place like leaves in a storm.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • And therefore, you know, how can our philosophy, our religion, if it's rootless in nature, how can it really be true?

  • And you find that sort of rootless existence appealing, do you?

  • Well, I'm sure your dad has excellent reasons for leading a rootless and impulsive life.

  • So I traveled, I left, I spent years bumming around rootless.

  • These people are... rootless, Godless drifters.

  • Because he couldn't see the faces of his family, his joy felt weirdly rootless.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Rootless and disheartened, he had enrolled in law school at Boalt Hall in Berkeley.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • I wanted to cry out for the frogs, the toads, the salamanders, for my own disconnected and rootless self.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • After moving to three different cities in one year, he felt completely rootless and uncertain about where to call home.

Synonyms

anchorless
vsrootless
1 6.8

Having no firm base or sense of belonging

emphasizes missing community ties or home rather than lacking support
vagabond
vsrootless
7.8

Living from place to place without a fixed home

lacks stable ties to any community rather than only moving around

Antonyms

3 3.7

Firmly connected to a particular place, idea, or feeling

2.7

Living in one place and not moving around

Compounds

8.9

A person who has no permanent home and feels at home in many places

How Rooted

rooted
3 3.7
settled
2.7
rootless
5 6.4
transient
11 7.0

Surface Forms

rootless positive
rootlesser comparative
rootlessest superlative

Morphology

rootless = root (transparent) = root + less

The adjective is a regular formation 'root' + '-less' meaning 'without roots/ties', which a B1 learner can derive from the base word.

Etymology

Rootless comes from root meaning 'the part of a plant that holds it in the ground or a person's family and home' and the ending -less meaning 'without'. So a rootless person is like a plant with no roots — someone who has no fixed home or strong ties.