radical.
radix.
radical
radius
First recorded in 1915–20; r(adiation) a(bsorbed) d(ose)
First recorded in 1820–25 rad 2 for 1; 1975–80 rad 2 for 2; shortening of radical
First recorded in 1910–15; shortening
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Happy Father’s Day to my baby daddy and rad co- parent,” she captioned a pair of family photos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2025
Also: How Liquid Death made water rad as hell, and the uncertain fate of TikTok in America.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2024
I feel like I never imagined a year in my career where I would get to work more than I am not working, and that's happening, and that's pretty rad.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2023
At the end of the day, none of that has to do with how rad you are as a 10-year-old.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
“You’ve been here a fraction of the time everyone else has, but you’ve gotten pretty much double the amount of litter off the streets. Pretty rad, Fern.”
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
"It's so rad. I have all of my friends here in one place. They've been my rock through everything," added Raducanu, who has reached the fourth round in 2021 and 2024.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025
It’s, “OMG, the traffic in Cairo is soo bad. But getting to see the pyramids is SO rad. I am breathless with excitement.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 10, 2023
I know what you’re wondering: “That sounds rad. How can I earn my own ieMedal?”
From The Verge ● Feb. 25, 2022
“It was really exciting to meet him. That was rad. It’s been a lot of people.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2014
Notice how close Timmy is to the breaking part of the wave-in a contest, they call that "critical positioning"; in regular surfing, they call it "rad." 3-4.
From Time Magazine Archive
Skateboarding, once a skill practiced mostly by becalmed surfers and, later, a teen fad, has entered its third phase, bigger, badder, radder and more streetwise than ever.
From Time Magazine Archive
"I'd a heap sight radder hab soffin' t' eat," said Washington, when it was made known that they were to retire.
From Through Space to Mars Or the Longest Journey on Record by Rockwood, Roy
As he resumed his work, he said, without lifting his eyes: “Seem’ to me ’f I could make myself like any man in dat whole worl’, I radder make myself like Bonaventure.
From Bonaventure A Prose Pastoral of Acadian Louisiana by Cable, George Washington
"Beoples might radder haf deir landts for nuttin', dan bay rents for dem."
From The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, Volume 1. Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts by Cooper, James Fenimore
I'd radder go to hell on my knees backward dan tech de fust drap ob dat.
From Si Klegg, Book 4 (of 6) Experiences Of Si And Shorty On The Great Tullahoma Campaign by McElroy, John
Hunter Burgan of AFI was brought out and introduced as not only “one of the raddest bass players ever ripping” but also “a mean sax player.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2025
"Rez Dogs" also has the raddest soundtrack on television, the result of Harjo's eclectic taste and his penchant for upending expectations.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2022
The Rockets always have some the raddest alternate unis in the NBA, but throw Beyoncé’s Tim Burton-shaming cavalcade of costume designers into the mix, and you can expect some serious fireworks.
From Golf Digest ● Aug. 1, 2017
I was 10 years old when my brother handed me Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” with the endorsement that it was “probably the raddest story ever.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 26, 2016
“This is the raddest thing ever,” I said.
From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez
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.
