Definitions for radical

• Definition
• Anagrams (167)

radical rad·i·cal

Spelling: [rad-i-kuh l]

IPA: /ˈræd ɪ kəl/

Radical is a 7 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 10 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 12 points.

You can make 167 anagrams from letters in radical (aacdilr).

Definitions for radical

noun

1. a person who holds or follows strong convictions or extreme principles; extremist.
2. a person who advocates fundamental political, economic, and social reforms by direct and often uncompromising methods.
3. Mathematics. a quantity expressed as a root of another quantity. the set of elements of a ring, some power of which is contained in a given ideal. radical sign.
4. Chemistry. group (def 3). free radical.
5. Grammar. root1 (def 12).
6. (in Chinese writing) one of 214 ideographic elements used in combination with phonetics to form thousands of different characters.

adjective

1. of or going to the root or origin; fundamental:
2. thoroughgoing or extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms:
3. favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms:
4. favoring, supporting, or representing extreme forms of religious fundamentalism:
5. forming a basis or foundation:
6. existing inherently in a thing or person:
7. Mathematics. pertaining to or forming a root. denoting or pertaining to the radical sign. irrational (def 5b).
8. Grammar. of or pertaining to the root of a word.
9. Botany. of or arising from the root or the base of the stem.

Origin of radical

1350-1400; Middle English Late Latin rādīcālis “having roots,” equivalent to Latin rādīc- (stem of rādīx) root¹ + -ālis -al¹

Examples for radical

Just last year, over 200 Nigerian girls were kidnapped from their school by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram.

The difference too is radical; it goes to the heart of the mystery.

"Yes, by that radical miller who lives at Martover," said Marion.

He has become the most radical pope in modern memory for his economic populism.

For under all her radical talk Sue had the kindest heart in the world.

The influence of Westhampton is radical, and fills the Council with a lot of outsiders.

But Brooke was out of step with the New Left and its notion of radical chic.

Two hostages are dead and 15 others free after an Islamic radical took them hostage before police killed him.

The event grew out of an anti-consumerist action by the Danish radical theater collective Solvognen.

For in his growth as a radical, Joe had gone beyond all arguing now.