radically
Americanadjective
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with regard to origin or root.
-
in a complete or basic manner; thoroughly; fundamentally.
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of radically
Explanation
The adverb radically is a great way to say "in an extreme way." When your formerly long-haired friend shows up at work with a crew cut, you could say that she looks radically different. Use radically to describe things that are done in a big way, particularly a change or an extreme position. For example, the government in your state might change radically after an important election. You'll often see the phrase "radically different" used to mean a change that's enormous, possibly even transforming. Though the root of radically, radical, originally meant "root of a word," it came to mean "far-reaching, innovative, or extreme," especially when it describes political views.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“You have to give people hope” that climate change could be solved without radically disrupting society, he said in a recent interview.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
"Altermagnets would make transport of information radically more efficient. That could allow technology to scale down and be less power consuming."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
Hockney's style changed radically a few years later, after he travelled to California for the first time in 1964.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
These were but a small aspect of a long love affair with printmaking that saw him embrace techniques both age-old and radically new.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
He even proposed, very radically, to put informative labels on each display so that people could appreciate what they were viewing.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
