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• root-and-branch
  root-and-branch

  adjective

  on a large scale or without discrimination; wholesale
• root and branch
  root and branch

  Utterly, completely, as in The company has been transformed root and branch by the new management. Alluding to both the underground and aboveground parts of a tree, this idiom was first recorded in 1640.

root-and-branch

British  

adjective

1. on a large scale or without discrimination; wholesale

   root-and-branch reforms

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adverb

1. entirely; completely; utterly

   Brazil needs reform root and branch

root and branch Idioms  

1. Utterly, completely, as in The company has been transformed root and branch by the new management. Alluding to both the underground and aboveground parts of a tree, this idiom was first recorded in 1640.

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Example Sentences

The author ties his root-and-branch critique of capitalism to a plea to “make modern life much more affordable than it is at present,” which he hopes will open more opportunities for enlightened leisure.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 2, 2026

And because of its hallowed status as a national treasure, any efforts at root-and-branch change quickly run up against political resistance.

From New York Times • Jul. 16, 2023

But the Tribunal ruled on Monday that Lovdahl Gormsen's methodology of establishing any losses suffered by Facebook users needed "root-and-branch re-evaluation" for the case to continue.

From Reuters • Feb. 20, 2023

He was also shrewd enough to understand that there needed to be root-and-branch reform of the Communist Party itself if his economic reforms were to succeed.

From BBC • Aug. 30, 2022

This huge mistake, hugged to their bosoms and championed with unflagging zeal by the ablest and most influential root-and-branch abolitionists, had a prodigious propagandic effect.

From The Brothers' War by Reed, John Calvin