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Glite Dictionary
grass roots

grass roots

4 3.3
Ordinary people in a community who support or begin change at the local level
  • noun
  • /ˈɡræs ruːts/
  • Informal
translation icon : base
  • Many social changes start at the grass roots level, driven by the people themselves.
  • grass roots organization
  • grass roots movement
  • grass roots level

This panel will highlight the spontaneous, the grass roots, and how even the best of urban plans can evolve in surprising and refreshing directions.

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Examples

  • I hope to demonstrate the power of grass roots crowd sourced fundraising.

  • Although he had a few large contributors, the Bureau remained a grass-roots operation; almost half of its supporters gave a dollar or less a year.

    Academic text (2002)

  • I can do more for this place at grass roots level.

    Muriel's Wedding (1994)

  • A lot of good our grass roots campaign did up there, right?

    Black Sheep (1996)

  • Most of them are local, grass-roots affairs with little political leadership.

    Academic text (2018)

  • Popular nationalism started "at the grass roots," at the bottom, seeking to attract mass support before trying to influence or overthrow the existing order.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Building on these earlier, incomplete efforts, the contemporary movement against drunk driving began in 1980 with the creation of a grass-roots organization, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

    Academic text (2008)

  • As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

    Blog text (24)

  • In 2004, the HHS Capital Compassion Fund announced over $58 million in grants to "grass-roots, faith-based" organizations, including groups like Catholic Charities of Kansas City and Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The charity focuses on grass roots efforts, empowering communities to improve their own conditions.

Synonyms

common people
vsgrass roots
16 1.3

People who are not rich or powerful

is about ordinary supporters at the base of an organization or movement
masses
vsgrass roots
2 2.3

Ordinary people in a society who are not rich or powerful

is about ordinary supporters at the base of an organization or movement

Surface Forms

grass roots singular
grass root singular
grass roots plural

Morphology

grass + roots

The idea of 'roots' as a base or origin combined with 'grass' evokes a ground-level foundation, so the general sense of basic-level support is partly inferable from the constituents. However, the expression is a metaphorical extension and a conventional political/social collocation (often written 'grassroots'), so its precise institutional/political meaning may not be fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.

Etymology

Grass roots comes from the image of plants: the grass and its roots stay low in the ground and give the first, basic support for new growth. So, when people say 'grass roots' they mean the 'ordinary people' at the base of a group or movement.