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deracinate

[dih-ras-uh-neyt]
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verb (used with object), de·rac·i·nat·ed, de·rac·i·nat·ing.
  1. to pull up by the roots; uproot; extirpate; eradicate.
  2. to isolate or alienate (a person) from a native or customary culture or environment.
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Origin of deracinate

1590–1600; < French déracin(er) (equivalent to dé- dis-1 + -raciner, verbal derivative of racine root < Late Latin rādīcīna for Latin rādīc-, stem of rādīx) + -ate1
Related formsde·rac·i·na·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for deracinate

Historical Examples

  • You cannot deracinate that wide-rooted dogma within your soul that more money means more joy.

    The Human Machine

    E. Arnold Bennett

  • To deracinate Lowell was impossible, and it was for this very reason that he became so serviceable an international personage.

  • Och, and the girls whose poor hearts you deracinate, Whirl and bewilder and flutter and fascinate!

  • No one by taking thought, can deracinate the mental habits of, say, twenty years.

British Dictionary definitions for deracinate

deracinate

verb (tr)
  1. to pull up by or as if by the roots; uproot; extirpate
  2. to remove, as from a natural environment
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Derived Formsderacination, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Old French desraciner, from des- dis- 1 + racine root, from Late Latin rādīcīna a little root, from Latin rādīx a root
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for deracinate

n.

1590s, "to pluck up by the roots," from French déraciner, from Old French desraciner "uproot, dig out, pull up by the roots," from des- (see dis-) + racine "root," from Late Latin radicina, diminutive of Latin radix (see radish). Related: Deracinated.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper