rootless

[ root-lis, root- ]

adjective

1. having no roots.
2. having no basis of stability; unsteady:

   a rootless feeling resulting from economic and social change.

3. having no place or position in society:

   a rootless wanderer.

rootless

/ ˈruːtlɪs /

adjective

1. having no roots, esp (of a person) having no ties with a particular place or community

Other Words From

• root·less·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of rootless¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English roteles; root ¹, + -less ( def )

Example Sentences

He’s a classic modern American antihero, both rootless and sure of who he is.

From Time

She is rootless and stateless, having little in the way of rights or protection from exploitation.

From The Daily Beast

They are living a rootless existence in 6th of October City, the satellite settlement now home to thousands of civil-war refugees.

From The Daily Beast

There had been neighbors—quiet-spoken folk with something more real about them than most of today's rootless world knew.

From Project Gutenberg

There is no end to the quickening power of knowledge; but mere individual, rootless acts of benevolence are soon added up.

From Project Gutenberg

And thus it is that when anything happens to disturb or break up their earthly home their rootless religiosity goes with it.

From Project Gutenberg

Nitella flexis is almost a rootless plant, and will grow without any care.

From Project Gutenberg

Within Walden's lifetime, others, cut off from their own race, lonely and rootless in the midst of the new.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• distrustful
• dubious
• hesitant
• indecisive
• mistrustful
• shaky
• skeptical
• suspicious
• uncertain
• unclear
• unconvinced
• undecided