root and branch
idiom
chiefly British
1
: complete or thorough
a root and branch overhaul of local schools
2
: completely or thoroughly
The laws were reformed root and branch.
Examples of root and branch in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Not at his attempts to wreak personal vengeance, reconstitute Washington root and branch, or engineer a lasting partisan realignment.
—
Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2024
Biden winning the White House with a bare Democratic majority in Congress won’t be enough for the United States to recover its international standing: Trumpism must be repudiated and delegitimized root and branch, much as McCarthyism was in the 1950s.
—Francis Fukuyama, Foreign Affairs, 18 Jan. 2021
The great majority of the country’s monastic institutions were leveled to the ground; some 18,000 monks were killed; and, in a society where about one-third of the adult male population were lamas (though not all living in monasteries), Buddhism was ripped out root and branch.
—Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023
Now, in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas that killed more than 1,500 people and upended that strategy, Israel is looking to tear Hamas out of Gaza root and branch in what most expect will be a long and bloody ground invasion.
—Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 20 Oct. 2023
The system that allowed just a few countries to buy nearly all the world’s vaccine supply needs root and branch reform.
—Nahashon Aluoka, Forbes, 10 June 2021
To use these new tools wisely, oncologists will have to become de facto evolutionary biologists, examining the genetic variation present in each patient's cancer tissues and devising a strategy to destroy the cancer tree, root and branch.
—Jeffrey P. Townsend, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2018
So, Kevin Wilson's winless Big Ten season could be explained away: start of a new era, a root and branch rebuild.
—Zach Osterman, The Indianapolis Star, 20 Nov. 2021
In this worldview, trees fight tooth and nail (or root and branch) to draw sustenance from the soil, collect rain and access sunlight.
—Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2021
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Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2024
Biden winning the White House with a bare Democratic majority in Congress won’t be enough for the United States to recover its international standing: Trumpism must be repudiated and delegitimized root and branch, much as McCarthyism was in the 1950s.
—Francis Fukuyama, Foreign Affairs, 18 Jan. 2021
The great majority of the country’s monastic institutions were leveled to the ground; some 18,000 monks were killed; and, in a society where about one-third of the adult male population were lamas (though not all living in monasteries), Buddhism was ripped out root and branch.
—Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023
Now, in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas that killed more than 1,500 people and upended that strategy, Israel is looking to tear Hamas out of Gaza root and branch in what most expect will be a long and bloody ground invasion.
—Eric Cortellessa, TIME, 20 Oct. 2023
The system that allowed just a few countries to buy nearly all the world’s vaccine supply needs root and branch reform.
—Nahashon Aluoka, Forbes, 10 June 2021
To use these new tools wisely, oncologists will have to become de facto evolutionary biologists, examining the genetic variation present in each patient's cancer tissues and devising a strategy to destroy the cancer tree, root and branch.
—Jeffrey P. Townsend, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2018
So, Kevin Wilson's winless Big Ten season could be explained away: start of a new era, a root and branch rebuild.
—Zach Osterman, The Indianapolis Star, 20 Nov. 2021
In this worldview, trees fight tooth and nail (or root and branch) to draw sustenance from the soil, collect rain and access sunlight.
—Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2021
Cite this Entry
“Root and branch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/root%20and%20branch. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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