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• root-and-branch
  root-and-branch

  adjective

  on a large scale or without discrimination; wholesale
• root and branch
  root and branch

  Utterly, completely, as in The company has been transformed root and branch by the new management. Alluding to both the underground and aboveground parts of a tree, this idiom was first recorded in 1640.

root-and-branch

British  

adjective

1. on a large scale or without discrimination; wholesale

   root-and-branch reforms

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adverb

1. entirely; completely; utterly

   Brazil needs reform root and branch

root and branch Idioms  

1. Utterly, completely, as in The company has been transformed root and branch by the new management. Alluding to both the underground and aboveground parts of a tree, this idiom was first recorded in 1640.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

root-and-branch root and branch

The author ties his root-and-branch critique of capitalism to a plea to “make modern life much more affordable than it is at present,” which he hopes will open more opportunities for enlightened leisure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

And because of its hallowed status as a national treasure, any efforts at root-and-branch change quickly run up against political resistance.

From New York Times ● Jul. 16, 2023

In November 2021 Mr Raab announced a "root-and-branch" review of the parole system, which was published on 30 March.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2023

But this is the first time he’s dug root-and-branch into a decades-old genre he’d only glanced at before.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2022

What we call our root-and-branch reforms, of slavery, war, gambling, intemperance, is only medicating the symptoms.

From Four American Leaders by Charles William Eliot

Not at his attempts to wreak personal vengeance, reconstitute Washington root and branch, or engineer a lasting partisan realignment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2024

The chief executive of St Catherine’s Hospice, which operates in West Sussex and Surrey, said funding of the sector needed an urgent root and branch review.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2024

A new government was elected in July, of course, and immediately initiated a root and branch review of UK defence needs and spending.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2024

In short, VAR, in its current form, has been an unmitigated disaster and must either undergo a root and branch review and be updated with the buy-in of players and managers or be scrapped altogether.

From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2023

Where it touched the ground it melted, but all about him rock and root and branch wore a thin blanket of white.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin