root
root
nounDefinition of ROOT
1
a point or place at which something is invented or provided <he insists that insecurity is the root of all jealousy>
Related Words beginning, commencement, dawn, day one, genesis, get-go (also git-go), inception, incipience, incipiency, kickoff, launch, morning, nascence, nascency, onset, outset, start, threshold; baseline, first base, ground zero, square one
2
the source from which something grows or develops <one would need to go back at least several hundred years to find the root of the entrenched hostility between the neighboring nations>
Related Words font, fountain, spring, well, wellhead, wellspring; beginning, birth, commencement, dawn, genesis, inception, incipiency, launch, morning, onset, outset, start, threshold; creation, inauguration, origination
3
an immaterial thing upon which something else rests <an implicit trust in the wisdom of the people is the root of democracy>
Synonyms basis, bedrock, bottom, cornerstone, footing, foundation, ground, groundwork, keystone, root, underpinning, warp, warp and woof
Related Words anchorage, bed, brace, bulwark, buttress, framework, infrastructure, mount, prop, shore, stay, substratum, substructure, support; assumption, justification, premise (also premiss), presumption, presupposition, rationale, supposition, theory, thesis, warrant; backbone, center, core, cornerstone, eye, focus, heart, hub, kernel, keystone, nucleus, seat; essence, quintessence, soul, touchstone
4
the central part or aspect of something under consideration <at root, it's a question of the proper limits, if any, of free speech>
Synonyms bottom line, bull's-eye, centerpiece, core, essence, gist, heart, kernel, keynote, meat, meat and potatoes, net, nub, nubbin, nucleus, pith, pivot, point, root, sum
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