root out

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

The top Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary committees are preparing to root out corruption. — Lisa Mascaro, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Drawing on tactics perfected during the Soviet era, the security forces have led a campaign to root out any threats to regime power. — Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 31 Aug. 2026

These former champions of AI data center investment in their states are now placing stricter standards on construction projects and requiring additional disclosures to root out more speculative activity. — Jeff Marks, CNBC, 24 Aug. 2026

Now, it's being redeveloped and retested to root out the goldens, which are notoriously resilient and hard to kill. — Ashley Sharp, CBS News, 21 Aug. 2026

Rhymes for root out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout