Radical
/ˈɹædɪkəl/ adj, noun, slang
adj, noun, slang ·Top 500 ·Middle school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A member of the most progressive wing of the Liberal Party; someone favouring social reform (but generally stopping short of socialism). historical
- 2 (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed wordnet
- 3 A member of an influential, centrist political party favouring moderate social reform, a republican constitution, and secular politics. historical
- 4 a character conveying the lexical meaning of a logogram wordnet
- 5 A person with radical opinions.
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- 6 a person who has radical ideas or opinions wordnet
- 7 A root (of a number or quantity).
- 8 (mathematics) a quantity expressed as the root of another quantity wordnet
- 9 In logographic writing systems such as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a character (if any) that provides an indication of its meaning, as opposed to phonetic.
"The boy recognised the Chinese characters, though the calligraphy looked a bit strange, as if drawn by someone who had seen them and copied them out radical by radical without knowing what they meant."
- 10 (chemistry) two or more atoms bound together as a single unit and forming part of a molecule wordnet
- 11 In Celtic languages, the basic, underlying form of an initial consonant which can be further mutated under the Celtic initial consonant mutations.
- 12 an atom or group of atoms with at least one unpaired electron; in the body it is usually an oxygen molecule that has lost an electron and will stabilize itself by stealing an electron from a nearby molecule wordnet
- 13 In Semitic languages, any one of the set of consonants (typically three) that make up a root.
- 14 A group of atoms, joined by covalent bonds, that take part in reactions as a single unit.
- 15 A free radical.
- 16 Given an ideal I in a commutative ring R, another ideal, denoted Rad(I) or √, such that an element x ∈ R is in Rad(I) if, for some positive integer n, xⁿ ∈ I; equivalently, the intersection of all prime ideals containing I.
- 17 Given a ring R, an ideal containing elements of R that share a property considered, in some sense, "not good".
- 18 The intersection of maximal submodules of a given module.
- 19 The product of the distinct prime factors of a given positive integer.
Adjective
- 1 Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter.
"His beliefs are radical."
- 2 Pertaining to a root (of a plant). not-comparable
- 3 Pertaining to the basic or intrinsic nature of something.
"The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only showed their radical independence."
- 4 Thoroughgoing; far-reaching.
"The spread of the cancer required radical surgery, and the entire organ was removed."
- 5 Of or pertaining to the root of a word. not-comparable
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- 6 Produced using the root of the tongue. not-comparable
- 7 Involving free radicals. not-comparable
- 8 Relating to a radix or mathematical root.
"a radical quantity; a radical sign"
- 9 Excellent; awesome. slang
"That was a radical jump!"
Adjective
- 1 especially of leaves; located at the base of a plant or stem; especially arising directly from the root or rootstock or a root-like stem wordnet
- 2 (used of opinions and actions) far beyond the norm wordnet
- 3 markedly new or introducing radical change wordnet
- 4 arising from or going to the root or source wordnet
- 5 of or relating to or constituting a linguistic root wordnet
Example
More examples"His argument is more radical than yours."
Etymology
PIE word *wréh₂ds Inherited from Middle English radical, from Latin rādīcālis (“of or pertaining to the root, having roots, radical”). Compare grassroots.