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deracinate

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

VIDEO FOR DERACINATE

Deracinate: Visual Word of the Day

The word deracinate can be used in a few different ways. Deracinate typically is seen in a negative light because to be grounded is to be stable and to be de-rooted is scary. But, sometimes, this word can be turned into a positive experience.

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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; see origin at dis-1, root1, -ate1

OTHER WORDS FROM deracinate

de·rac·i·na·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use deracinate in a sentence

  • 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.

  • 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.

British Dictionary definitions for deracinate

deracinate
/ (dɪˈræsɪˌneɪt) /

verb (tr)
to pull up by or as if by the roots; uproot; extirpate
to remove, as from a natural environment

Derived forms of deracinate

deracination, noun

Word Origin for deracinate

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
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