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

In other words, the roots of humanity may have been geographically and genetically widespread, but not necessarily divided into sharply different human forms.

From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2026

Among the recordings was a version of Chopin's Prelude in F Major, a tribute to her Polish roots, which became one of her personal favourites.

From BBC • Apr. 23, 2026

Arborists say the trenches could destroy the roots of some of the last remaining trees and kill them.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

Now events come and stay,” says Omar Nokta, managing director and equity analyst at Clarksons Securities, an investment bank to the shipping industry that traces its roots back more than 150 years.

From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026

Clumps of dirt clung to its roots, which stretched twenty feet across and twenty feet high.

From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret