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.
The rise of vibe coding, meanwhile, would make building custom software radically cheaper and easier.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 30, 2026
What Slack did was radically flatten hierarchies and roles and change who could put what on the agenda.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Speaking in Berlin on the same day, Environment Minister Carsten Schneider of junior coalition partner the centre-left SPD offered a radically different vision, centred on restoring rivers.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
Owens said while babirusas "are doing well in our care" numbers in the wild were "radically reducing" and it would be "horrendous if they disappeared, because they were amazing, charismatic animals".
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
And what I did not realize was that my life would be radically changed by deceptively distant events.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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.
