radicality

American  

[rad-i-kal-i-tee] / ˌræd ɪˈkæl ɪ ti /

Sometimes radicalness

noun

radicalities plural

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.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• radicalities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of radicality

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

Example Sentences

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

“The bricks of the north and the gray sky, it’s a kind of radicality of melancholy.”

From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2020

“And some artists try to pretend they’re not part of that, and cloak themselves in radicality, but Rob really is a radical, partly because he doesn’t do that.”

From New York Times • May 13, 2015

Study is pursued at the German universities with zeal and radicality.

From The Student-Life of Germany by Howitt, William