deracinate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to pull up by the roots; uproot; extirpate; eradicate.
-
to isolate or alienate (a person) from a native or customary culture or environment.
verb
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to pull up by or as if by the roots; uproot; extirpate
-
to remove, as from a natural environment
Other Word Forms
- deracination noun
Etymology
Origin of deracinate
First recorded in 1590–1600; from French déracin(er), equivalent to dé- + -raciner, verbal derivative of racine “root,” from Late Latin rādīcīna for Latin rādīc-, stem of rādīx + -ate; dis- 1, root 1 ( def. ), -ate 1
Explanation
To deracinate someone is to force them to move away from their native home to a new, unfamiliar place. Civil wars often deracinate large segments of a country's population. Deracinate comes from the Old French desraciner, "pull up by the roots." When you deracinate people, they're figuratively pulled up by the roots, usually with the intention of "planting" them in a new location. Historically, U.S. policies deracinated Native American tribes, relocating them to reservations. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina deracinated many people whose neighborhoods became unlivable. You can also use this verb more literally: "I'm going to deracinate that lavender plant and put it in a sunnier spot."
Vocabulary lists containing deracinate
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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.
Yet it’s not the dialects so much that deracinate the production as the nowhere scenic design.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2023
To collect the artistic riches from the region and put them on display in the Sassi would deracinate them, he argues.
From The New Yorker • Apr. 20, 2015
No one by taking thought, can deracinate the mental habits of, say, twenty years.
From Journalism for Women A Practical Guide by Bennett, Arnold
There is as yet no Greek language of philosophy; a long development will bring it forth however; Aristotle will deracinate the last image of Homer, and leave the Greek tongue supersensible.
From Homer's Odyssey A Commentary by Snider, Denton Jaques
But the gale that will deracinate Cambridge has not yet begun to rage....
From Your United States Impressions of a first visit by Bennett, Arnold
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.
