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• roots
  roots

  adjective

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

  (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.

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

Derived Forms

• rootsy
  adjective

Example Sentences

Didion’s family eventually settled in Sacramento, where several generations would tend to their roots and Didion would eventually be born.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026

One recurring feature is the thin groove across exposed tooth roots, especially between teeth.

From Science Daily • Jun. 8, 2026

Children have a stronger sense of their roots and family culture, are more likely to stay together with brothers and sisters as a unit, and are more likely to report that they feel loved.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026

Not only do they store up to five times more carbon dioxide than land-based forests, but their tangled roots can also slow down waves and protect coastal communities from storm surges and tsunamis.

From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026

I don’t want us to grow any roots here at all.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy