uproot
Americanverb (used with object)
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uproots,
present (3rd person singular)
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uprooted,
past participle, past
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uprooting
present participle
-
to pull out by or as if by the roots.
The hurricane uprooted many trees and telephone poles.
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to remove violently or tear away from a native place or environment.
The industrial revolution uprooted large segments of the rural population.
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to destroy or eradicate as if by pulling out roots.
The conquerors uprooted many of the Native traditions.
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to displace, as from a home or country; tear away, as from customs or a way of life.
to uproot a people.
verb (used without object)
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uproots,
present (3rd person singular)
-
uprooted,
past participle, past
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uprooting
present participle
verb
-
to pull up by or as if by the roots
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to displace (a person or persons) from native or habitual surroundings
-
to remove or destroy utterly
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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uprootsimple
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uprootssimple
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have uprootedperfect
-
has uprootedperfect
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am uprootingprogressive
-
are uprootingprogressive
-
is uprootingprogressive
-
have been uprootingperfect progressive
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has been uprootingperfect progressive
Past
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uprootedsimple
-
had uprootedperfect
-
was uprootingprogressive
-
were uprootingprogressive
-
had been uprootingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of uproot
Explanation
When you uproot people, you move them from one place to a completely new one. Your parents may need to uproot you if your mom gets a new job all the way across the country. One meaning of the verb uproot is "move," especially when a person is forced to move. Another way to use uproot is more literal: to pull a plant out of the ground, roots and all. You might, for example, uproot your favorite rose bush and replant it in a sunnier spot in your garden. Interestingly, the figurative sense of uproot is about a hundred years older than the literal meaning, which was first used in the late 1600's.
Vocabulary lists containing uproot
Outcasts United
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Purple Hibiscus
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Between Shades of Gray
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Forests, he reasoned, don’t uproot and storm castles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
But Reger has no plans to uproot Neura's business, which is collaborating with German car component suppliers Bosch and Schaeffler on factory automation.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
"They're asking us to uproot our lives, move elsewhere, and they're not telling us any information at all," he said.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
To work for peace is to uproot war from ourselves and from the hearts of men and women.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
The storm that raged in him tonight could not uproot this hatred, the mightiest tree in all John’s country, all that remained tonight, in this, John’s floodtime.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
Owners say they are easy to carry and set up and are safer than umbrellas, which can cause injuries or death when the wind uproots them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
Many trees in the forest were flattened to the ground due to wetter springs and high-intensity storms, which uproots them.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2022
It definitely is a very important topic, and something that needs to be addressed in a way that uproots all of it.
From The Verge ● Mar. 29, 2022
Waterwell’s version uproots it to Connecticut, but without any real feeling of place or circumstance.
From New York Times ● Mar. 28, 2022
"How long do you suppose a post would last in a mild little wind-storm that uproots trees and tosses them about like wisps of hay?" laughed Polly.
From Polly of Pebbly Pit by Lillian Elizabeth Roy
A core conviction, she wrote in “Outrageous Acts,” was “that sex and race discrimination are so pragmatically linked and anthropologically interdependent that one cannot be successfully uprooted without taking on the other.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
"Nearly all trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months," it said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026
At least three former colleagues of mine have uprooted their families, changed jobs and moved overseas within the last few years.
From Salon ● May 31, 2026
And how much does she dedicate to Nothingness Flats, her home in the Mojave Desert that’s being uprooted and flattened for the sake of a massive solar array?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
It was as though his entire world had been suddenly and violently uprooted, shaken to its very core.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
I might as well have tried uprooting a fire hydrant.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
That sustained progress over recent seasons has come since she made another significant decision, uprooting her life to the north Italian city of Padua to be coached by Marco Airale.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Ours is an age not only of cultural backsliding but also of people uprooting themselves for the sake of safety and reinvention.
From Salon ● May 20, 2026
Her neighbour, 71-year-old Kusum Mishra, who arrived 50 years ago, also dismissed the "petty compensation" offered, complaining that "they are uprooting us and destroying our lives."
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
The Puerto Rican jíbara who longed for the green quiet of a tropical afternoon was to become a hybrid who would never forgive the uprooting.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
