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radical

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

raduhkuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɹædəkəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter.

  2. botanynot comparable

    Of or relating to or constituting a linguistic root

  3. Pertaining to the basic or intrinsic nature of something.

  4. Thoroughgoing; far-reaching.

  5. botanynot comparable

    Pertaining to a root (of a plant).

noun

  1. A person who has radical ideas or opinions

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter.

Used this way, radical is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use radical

  • “In the body free radicals are high-energy particles that ricochet wildly and damage cells.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Favoring

radical reform

Involving

radical politics

Other combinations

radical feminismradical feministsradical partyradical departureless radicalradical right

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • radicallyadverbDerived adverb

    In a radical manner.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • radical mastectomynounCompound term

    Removal of a breast and the underlying muscles (pectoralis major and pectoralis minor) and lymph nodes in the adjacent armpit.

  • radical chicnounCompound term

    An affectation of radical left-wing views and the fashionable dress and lifestyle that goes with them.

  • radical cellnounCompound term

    A cell of terrorists (usually 3 to 5 members).

  • radical signnounCompound term

    A sign indicating the extraction of a root.

  • radical hysterectomynounCompound term

    Surgical removal of the uterus and the ovaries and oviducts and cervix and related lymph nodes.

  • azido radicalnounCompound term

    The univalent group N3- derived from hydrazoic acid.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: person who has radical ideas or opinions

extremist

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.