roots

British  

/ ruːts /

adjective

1. (of popular music) going back to the origins of a style, esp in being genuine and unpretentious

   roots rock

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Roots Cultural  

1. (1976) A Pulitzer Prize –winning novel by the African-American author Alex Haley, later made into a popular television drama. It traces a black American man's heritage to Africa, where his ancestors had been captured and sold as slaves.

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Other Word Forms

• rootsy adjective

Example Sentences

Pasqal, however, has been setting down roots in the country for a while, as a member of International Business Machines’

From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026

Current and former partners say the firm is increasingly unrecognizable to them from its roots as a litigation powerhouse with a humanitarian streak.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

Rather than commuting to city offices, remote workers are putting down roots, renting homes, enrolling children in local schools, joining clubs and co-working spaces, and contributing skills that once flowed almost exclusively to major cities.

From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026

As a historian of Jewish gender and antisemitism, I know the connections between misogyny and antisemitism have deep roots.

From Salon • Apr. 6, 2026

Clamping his jaws around the unearthed roots, Clare pulled himself back.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman