rootless

[root-lis, root-]

adjective

1. having no roots.

2. having no basis of stability; unsteady.

   a rootless feeling resulting from economic and social change.

3. having no place or position in society.

   a rootless wanderer.

rootless

/ ˈruːtlɪs /

adjective

1. having no roots, esp (of a person) having no ties with a particular place or community

Other Word Forms

• rootlessness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of rootless¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English roteles; root ¹, + -less ( def. )

Example Sentences

From a well-known Kolkata family, he drifted - alcoholic, rootless, a man described by his wife as having "this terrible business of sitting around doing nothing. Nothing. No reading, no talking, no thinking".

From BBC

For a rootless young man with sensualist inclinations, it was the perfect getaway.

From Salon

Suddenly, she’s brandishing a mop and pail everywhere like a rootless knight without a quest or a horse.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s been a very long while since a show featuring a rootless protagonist managed to keep its edge and relatability without doing itself in with narrative drift.

From Salon

Most famously, there was "The Future," released in 1992 at the moment of liberal democracy’s supposed global triumph, which offered an eerie forecast of a rootless new century, struggling with the loss of existential meaning:

From Salon

Related Words

• distrustful 
• dubious 
• hesitant 
• indecisive 
• mistrustful 
• shaky 
• skeptical 
• suspicious 
• uncertain 
• unclear 
• unconvinced 
• undecided