Definition of root

"root" in the noun sense

1. root

botany) the usually underground organ that lacks buds or leaves or nodes absorbs water and mineral salts usually it anchors the plant to the ground

2. beginning, origin, root, rootage, source

the place where something begins, where it springs into being

"the Italian beginning of the Renaissance"

"Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"

"Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River"

"communism's Russian root"

3. root, root word, base, stem, theme, radical

linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed

"thematic vowels are part of the stem"

4. root

a number that, when multiplied by itself some number of times, equals a given number

5. solution, root

the set of values that give a true statement when substituted into an equation

6. ancestor, ascendant, ascendent, antecedent, root

someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)

7. etymon, root

a simple form inferred as the common basis from which related words in several languages can be derived by linguistic processes

8. root

the embedded part of a bodily structure such as a tooth, nail, or hair

"root" in the verb sense

1. root

take root and begin to grow

"this plant roots quickly"

2. root

come into existence, originate

"The problem roots in her depression"

3. root

cheer for

"She roots for the Broncos"

4. root

plant by the roots

5. rout, root, rootle

dig with the snout

"the pig was rooting for truffles"

6. settle, root, take root, steady down, settle down

become settled or established and stable in one's residence or life style

"He finally settled down"

7. root

cause to take roots

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


View WordNet® License

Quotations for root

Remorse is virtue's root. [ Bryant ]

To draw the worm out of the root. [ Proverb ]

Grace is a plant, where'er it grows
Of pure and heavenly root;
But fairest in the youngest shows,
And yields the sweetest fruit. [ William Cowper ]

Dishonesty is the root of discussion. [ Roqueplan ]

Our wanton accidents take root, and grow
To vaunt themselves God's laws. [ Charles Kingsley ]

A sturdy oak, which nature forms
To brave a hundred winter's storms.
While round its head the whirlwinds blow.
Remains with root infix'd below:
When fell'd to earth, a ship it sails
Through dashing waves and driving gales
And now at sea, again defies
The threatening clouds and howling skies. [ Hoole ]

The love of money is the root of all evil. [ I Timothy vi. 10 ]

Our virtues and vices spring from one root. [ Goethe ]

Labour has a bitter root but a sweet taste. [ Danish Proverb ]

Root away
The noisome weeds, which without profit suck
The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers. [ Rich. II ]

Existence may be borne, and the deep root
Of life and sufferance make its firm abode
In bare and desolate bosoms: mute
The camel labors with the heaviest load.
And the wolf dies in silence: Not bestowed
In vain should such examples be; if they.
Things of ignoble or of savage mood,
Endure and shrink not, we of nobler clay
May temper it to bear - it is but for a day. [ Byron ]

Sweet is the rose, but grows upon a brere;
Sweet is the juniper, but sharp his bough;
Sweet is the eglantine, but sticketh nere;
Sweet is the firbloome, but its branches rough;
Sweet is the cypress, but its rynd is tough;
Sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill;
Sweet is the broome-flowre, but yet sowre enough;
And sweet is moly, but his root is ill.
[ Spenser ]

The strong must build stout cabins for the weak;
Must plan and stint; must sow and reap and store;
For grain takes root though all seems bare and bleak. [ Eugene Lee-Hamilton ]

Money is the fruit of evil as often as the root of it. [ Fielding ]

The root of all steadfastness is in consecration to God. [ Alexander Maclaren ]

The pine wishes herself a shrub, when the axe is at her root. [ Proverb ]

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. [ Washington ]

Faith is the root of works. A root that produceth nothing is dead. [ Thomas Wilson ]

Ennui is a growth of English root, though nameless in our language. [ Byron ]

Humility - that low, sweet root from which all heavenly virtues shoot. [ Moore ]

Truth is the root, but human sympathy is the flower of practical life. [ Chapin ]

No expression of politeness but has its root in the moral nature of man. [ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ]

To nurse the flowers, to root up the weeds, is the business of the gardener. [ Bodenstedt ]

Individuality is everywhere to be guarded and honored as the root of all good. [ Jean Paul Richter ]

It is better to be unborn than untaught; for ignorance is the root of misfortune. [ Plato ]

Its summit stretches as far into the upper ether as its root into the nether deep.

Remorse is virtue's root; its fair increase are fruits of innocence and blessedness. [ Bryant ]

This avarice sticks deeper; grows with more pernicious root than summer-seeding lust. [ William Shakespeare ]

Born of God, attach thyself to Him, as a plant to its root, that ye may not be withered. [ Demophilus ]

Covetousness, like jealousy, when it has once taken root, never leaves a man but with his life. [ Thomas Hughes ]

Like other plants, virtue will not grow unless its root be hidden, buried from the eye of the sun. [ Carlyle ]

Great part of human suffering has its root in the nature of man, and not in that of his institutions. [ Lowell ]

Temperance is a tree which has for its root very little contentment, and for its fruit calm and peace. [ Buddha ]

These blasted pines, wrecks of a single winter, barkless, branchless, a blighted trunk upon a cursed root [ Byron ]

The root of sanctity is sanity. A man must be healthy before he can be holy. We bathe first, and then perfume. [ Mme. Swetchine ]

The use of tobacco, more especially in smoking, disposes to idleness, and idleness has been considered as the root of all evil. [ Benjamin Rush M.D ]

Antithesis may be the blossom of wit, but it will never arrive at maturity unless sound sense be the trunk, and truth the root. [ Colton ]

True glory strikes root, and even extends itself; all false pretensions fall as do flowers, nor can anything feigned be lasting. [ Cicero ]

Friendship's said to be a plant of tedious growth, its root composed of tender fibers, nice in their taste, cautious in spreading. [ Vanbrugh ]

True glory takes root, and even spreads; all false pretenses, like flowers, fall to the ground: nor can any counterfeit last long. [ Cicero ]

Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown flower there is no more; in the leafless root there is no less. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Affliction is the wholesome soul of virtue; Where patience, honor, sweet humanity. Calm fortitude, take root, and strongly flourish. [ Mallet and Thomson ]

We must prune it with care, so as only to remove the redundant branches, and not injure the stem, which has its root in the generous sensitiveness to shame. [ Plutarch ]

All truly wise thoughts have been thought already, thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take firm root in our personal experience. [ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ]

There is, I know not how, in the minds of men, a certain presage, as it were, of a future existence; and this takes the deepest root, and is most discoverable, in the greatest geniuses and most exalted souls. [ Cicero ]

The vengeful thought that has root merely in the mind is but a dream of idlest sort which one clear day will dissipate; while revenge, the passion, is a disease of the heart which climbs up, up to the brain, and feeds itself on both alike. [ Lew Wallace ]

Human excellence, parted from God, is like a fable flower, which, according to Rabbis, Eve plucked when passing out of paradise - severed from its native root, it is only the touching memorial of a lost Eden; sad, while charming - beautiful, but dead. [ C. Stanford ]

Sombre thoughts and fancies often require a little real soil or substance to flourish in; they are the dark pinetrees which take root in, and frown over the rifts of the scathed and petrified heart, and are chiefly nourished by the rain of unavailing tears, and the vapors of fancy. [ J. F. Boyes ]

Necessity is always the first stimulus to industry, and those who conduct it with prudence, perseverance and energy will rarely fail. Viewed in this light, the necessity of labor is not a chastisement, but a blessing, - the very root and spring of all that we call progress in individuals and civilization in nations. [ Samuel Smiles ]

Wealth brings noble opportunities, and competence is a proper object of pursuit; but wealth, and even competence, may be bought at too high a price. Wealth itself has no moral attribute. It is not money, but the love of money, which is the root of all evil. It is the relation between wealth and the mind and the character of its possessor which is the essential thing. [ Hillard ]

Nature seems to delight in disappointing the assiduities of art, with which it would rear dulness to maturity, and to glory in the vigor and luxuriance of her chance productions. She scatters the seeds of genius to the winds, and though some may perish among the stony places of the world, and some may be choked by the thorns and brambles of early adversity, yet others will now and then strike root even in the clefts of the rock, struggle bravely up into sunshine, and spread over their sterile birthplace all the beauties of vegetation. [ Washington Irving ]

root in Scrabble®

The word root is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 4

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays In The Letters root:

TORO
(15)
TORO
(15)
ROOT
(15)
ROOT
(15)
 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word root

ROOT
(15)
ROOT
(15)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(10)
ROOT
(10)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(4)

The 92 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In root

TORO
(15)
TORO
(15)
ROOT
(15)
ROOT
(15)
ROOT
(12)
TORO
(12)
TORO
(12)
TORO
(12)
TORO
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
TORO
(10)
ROOT
(10)
ROOT
(10)
TORO
(10)
TOO
(9)
ROT
(9)
TOO
(9)
TOO
(9)
ROT
(9)
ROT
(9)
ROOT
(8)
TORO
(8)
TORO
(8)
TORO
(8)
TORO
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
TORO
(6)
TO
(6)
TOO
(6)
TOO
(6)
TOO
(6)
TORO
(6)
ROOT
(6)
TO
(6)
TORO
(6)
TORO
(6)
ROOT
(6)
OR
(6)
TORO
(6)
TORO
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROT
(6)
OR
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROT
(6)
ROT
(6)
ROOT
(5)
TOO
(5)
TORO
(5)
TOO
(5)
TOO
(5)
TORO
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROT
(5)
TORO
(5)
ROT
(5)
TOO
(5)
TORO
(5)
ROT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROT
(5)
ROT
(4)
OR
(4)
OR
(4)
ROT
(4)
ROOT
(4)
TO
(4)
OR
(4)
TORO
(4)
TOO
(4)
ROT
(4)
TOO
(4)
TOO
(4)
TO
(4)
OR
(4)
TO
(4)
TO
(4)
TO
(3)
OR
(3)
ROT
(3)
TOO
(3)
TO
(3)
OR
(3)
OR
(2)
TO
(2)

root in Words With Friends™

The word root is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 4

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays In The Letters root:

TORO
(18)
TORO
(18)
ROOT
(18)
ROOT
(18)
 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word root

ROOT
(18)
ROOT
(18)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(10)
ROOT
(10)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(4)

The 100 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In root

TORO
(18)
TORO
(18)
ROOT
(18)
ROOT
(18)
ROOT
(12)
TORO
(12)
TORO
(12)
TORO
(12)
TORO
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
ROOT
(12)
TORO
(10)
ROOT
(10)
ROOT
(10)
TORO
(10)
TOO
(9)
ROT
(9)
TOO
(9)
TOO
(9)
ROT
(9)
ROT
(9)
ROOT
(8)
TORO
(8)
TORO
(8)
TORO
(8)
TORO
(8)
TORO
(8)
TORO
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROOT
(8)
ROT
(7)
TOO
(7)
TORO
(6)
ROOT
(6)
TO
(6)
TORO
(6)
ROOT
(6)
TOO
(6)
OR
(6)
TOO
(6)
ROOT
(6)
TOO
(6)
TORO
(6)
TORO
(6)
ROOT
(6)
TO
(6)
TORO
(6)
ROOT
(6)
OR
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROT
(6)
TORO
(6)
ROT
(6)
ROOT
(6)
ROT
(6)
TORO
(6)
ROT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
TORO
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROOT
(5)
TOO
(5)
TOO
(5)
ROOT
(5)
ROT
(5)
TORO
(5)
TOO
(5)
TORO
(5)
ROT
(5)
ROT
(5)
TOO
(5)
TORO
(5)
OR
(4)
OR
(4)
TOO
(4)
OR
(4)
TORO
(4)
ROOT
(4)
ROT
(4)
ROT
(4)
ROT
(4)
OR
(4)
TO
(4)
TO
(4)
TO
(4)
TOO
(4)
TOO
(4)
TO
(4)
TO
(3)
TO
(3)
OR
(3)
TOO
(3)
OR
(3)
ROT
(3)
OR
(2)
TO
(2)

Words within the letters of root

2 letter words in root (2 words)

3 letter words in root (2 words)

4 letter words in root (Anagrams) (2 words)

Word Growth involving root

Shorter words in root

(No shorter words found)

Longer words containing root

alumroot alumroots

arrowroot arrowroots

balsamroot balsamroots

beetroot beetroots

birthroot birthroots

breadroot breadroots

brierroot brierroots

clubroot clubroots

colicroot colicroots

comfortroot

disroot disrooted

disroot disrooting

disroot disroots

fingerroot fingerroots

gingerroot gingerroots

grassroot grassroots

irisroot irisroots

leatherroot

nerveroot nerveroots

pokeroot pokeroots

prootic prootics

redroot redroots

reroot rerooted

reroot rerooting

reroot reroots

rootbeer rootbeers

rootbound

rooted deeprooted

rooted disrooted

rooted rerooted

rooted uprooted uprootedness

rooter rooters uprooters

rooter uprooter uprooters

rooting disrooting

rooting rerooting

rooting uprooting uprootings

rootless rootlessness

rootlet rootlets

rootlike

roots alumroots

roots arrowroots

roots balsamroots

roots beetroots

roots birthroots

roots breadroots

roots brierroots

roots clubroots

roots colicroots

roots disroots

roots fingerroots

roots gingerroots

roots grassroots

roots irisroots

roots nerveroots

roots pokeroots

roots redroots

roots reroots

roots rootstalk rootstalks

roots rootstock rootstocks

roots snakeroots

roots squawroots

roots taproots

roots uproots

scrootch scrootched

scrootch scrootches

scrootch scrootching

snakeroot snakeroots

squawroot squawroots

taproot taproots

unroot

uproot uprootal uprootals

uproot uprooted uprootedness

uproot uprooter uprooters

uproot uprooting uprootings

uproot uproots