noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A healthy and vigorous-rooted plant that is used in grafting, most commonly as a sound base to support a scion that bears desirable fruit in orchard culture.
2. 2
   root or part of a root used for plant propagation; especially that part of a grafted plant that supplies the roots wordnet
3. 3
   The necessary basis for something to develop. broadly, figuratively

   "We know more - vastly more - about how we are governed, and that knowledge is the rootstock of consent."

4. 4
   a horizontal plant stem with shoots above and roots below serving as a reproductive structure wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

rootstalkbulbradixrhizomerhizomeroot

Example

More examples

"The orchardist grafted an apple bud onto the rootstock."

Etymology

From root + stock.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.