root out

phrasal verb

rooted out; rooting out; roots out
1
: to find and remove (something or someone)
The mayor was determined to root out corruption in city government.
2
: to find (something or someone) after searching for a long time
He finally rooted out the cause of the problem.

Examples of root out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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In these settings, errors can be admitted and leveraged for course corrections and improvements, and unconscious biases can be rooted out or minimized. Jim Deloach, Forbes.com, 13 Aug. 2025 Americans' primary oversight entities—rather than rooting out waste and misconduct—now are poised to be rubber stamps for whatever administration is in power. Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Aug. 2025 His office says the goals behind the takeover are to fully root out Hamas everywhere in Gaza before stabilizing the region and eventually handing leadership off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas. Anders Hagstrom, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2025 Over the past decade, Silicon Valley and other industries used DEI programs to root out bias in hiring, promote fairness in the workplace and advance the careers of women and people of color — demographics that have historically been overlooked in the workplace. Jennifer Elias, CNBC, 1 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for root out

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Cite this Entry

“Root out.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/root%20out. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.

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