radical

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Involving great or complete change.

   The new manager made radical changes to the company.

2. 2
   adj

   Supporting big political or social change, often in an extreme way.

   He joined a radical group that demanded an end to the government.

3. 3
   noun

   A person who wants big or extreme political or social change.

   As a young man he was a radical who marched in every protest.

PIE word *wréh₂ds Inherited from Middle English radical, from Latin rādīcālis (“of or pertaining to the root, having roots, radical”). Compare grassroots.

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