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Synonyms

root out

British  

verb

  1. (tr, adverb) to remove or eliminate completely

    we must root out inefficiency
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
root out Idioms  

  1. Search for, seek to discover, as in He was trying to root out the reason for her long absence. This idiom alludes to the way hogs dig by using their snouts. [Mid-1800s]

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.

Early this year, the military launched an ongoing operation it said was aimed at rooting out Palestinian armed groups from camps in the northern occupied West Bank -- including Nur Shams, Tulkarem and Jenin.

From Barron's

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said "we must root out this evil once and for all" and the inquiry will be a "moment of reckoning", as she announced the appointment in the Commons.

From BBC

He added: "We are tightening the law to clamp down on illegal working in the delivery sector to root out this criminality from our communities."

From BBC

Walz said “we welcome” efforts to root out fraud but criticized rhetoric the governor said was “demonizing an entire population.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Cuba received cut-rate oil in exchange for doctors and military advisers who helped root out dissent in the Venezuelan army, former military officials say.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.