radically
Americanadjective
-
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.
Nine siblings face a collective struggle against frontotemporal dementia, which strikes in middle age and radically changes lives and personalities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Periods in which existing theories struggled to explain observations have sometimes led to radically new frameworks, including Einstein's theory of relativity.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
It includes lessons that employees like Julia Gao, a 23-year-old software engineer, have had to learn quickly as their roles have radically changed in a matter of months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The rise of vibe coding, meanwhile, would make building custom software radically cheaper and easier.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 30, 2026
As geometrical hypotheses, the Ptolemaic, Tychonic and Copernican systems were equivalent; but as astronomical hypotheses they were radically different.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
