rootless

[ root-lis, root- ]

See synonyms for: rootless rootlessness on Thesaurus.com

adjective

having no roots.
having no basis of stability; unsteady: a rootless feeling resulting from economic and social change.

having no place or position in society: a rootless wanderer.

Origin of rootless

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English roteles; root¹, +-less

Other words from rootless

root·less·ness, noun

Words Nearby rootless

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use rootless in a sentence

He’s a classic modern American antihero, both rootless and sure of who he is.
Red Rocket Is a Spiky Comedy With a Fascinating, Magnetic Performance by Simon Rex | Stephanie Zacharek | December 10, 2021 | Time
She is rootless and stateless, having little in the way of rights or protection from exploitation.
The Young Girls Escaping the ISIS War | Chandra Kellison | September 16, 2014 | 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.
Desperate to Go to War, Syrians in Egypt Find an Ally to Help | Alastair Beach, Abdulhamid Mallas | May 3, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
There had been neighbors—quiet-spoken folk with something more real about them than most of today's rootless world knew.
The Sensitive Man | Poul William Anderson
There is no end to the quickening power of knowledge; but mere individual, rootless acts of benevolence are soon added up.
The Claims of Labour | Arthur Helps

And thus it is that when anything happens to disturb or break up their earthly home their rootless religiosity goes with it.
Bunyan Characters | Alexander Whyte
Nitella flexis is almost a rootless plant, and will grow without any care.
Harper's Young People, August 24, 1880 | Various
Within Walden's lifetime, others, cut off from their own race, lonely and rootless in the midst of the new.
Homo Inferior | Mari Wolf

British Dictionary definitions for rootless

rootless

/ (ˈruːtlɪs) /

adjective

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

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

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