radicality

American  

[rad-i-kal-i-tee] / ˌræd ɪˈkæl ɪ ti /

Sometimes radicalness

noun

plural

radicalities

1. the quality of being fundamental, drastic, far-reaching, etc..

   Because of the radicality of the surgery there is a higher risk of complications.

   It is difficult to overstate the radicality of the change I saw in him after a summer at camp.

2. a tendency toward extremism in political ideology, religion, etc.; radicalism.

   A lot of people were put off by the radicality of his so-called documentary, and they called it propaganda.

3. something, such as a concept, practice, character trait, etc., that is fundamental, extreme, or very different from what is generally accepted.

   The essay explores some of the remarkable radicalities and ironies in the work of the famous filmmaker.

---

Etymology

Origin of radicality

First recorded in 1815–25; radical ( def. ) + -ity ( def. )

Example Sentences

That radicality was attached to improvisation and innovation.

From New York Times • Jun. 28, 2022

But this show, organized with the Tate Modern in London, is big enough — with some 120 paintings, watercolors and drawings — that an even larger sense of Cézanne’s radicality emerges.

From Washington Post • Jun. 15, 2022

“Something quite amazing happened during this campaign. The radicality of Eric Zemmour has softened the image of Marine Le Pen,” Bruno Cautres, a political scientist at Sciences-Po university in Paris, told Reuters.

From Reuters • Mar. 30, 2022

But the atrium was truly anointed as the billboard for the new, feisty radicality at the end of 2008.

From New York Times • Dec. 30, 2010

As is well known, we Germans are of a terribly ponderous Gründlichkeit, radical profundity or profound radicality, whatever you may like to call it.

From Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels, Friedrich