adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of rootless
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English roteles; root 1, + -less ( def. )
Explanation
Someone who's rootless doesn't have a permanent home or place to settle down. Your rootless cousin might save money for a ticket to India and then spend years backpacking around Asia. Some plants are literally rootless, growing without a root system to absorb nutrients. Algae is one example of a rootless plant. Rootless far more commonly describes a person who wanders. An immigrant might feel a bit rootless the first few years in a new country, not quite at home yet but far from their original home. And if your family moves every couple of years, they're rootless too.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Most famously, there was "The Future," released in 1992 at the moment of liberal democracy’s supposed global triumph, which offered an eerie forecast of a rootless new century, struggling with the loss of existential meaning:
From Salon • Jan. 21, 2025
Breached rootless cones identified in the current study show similar occurrences of polyhydrated sulfates, further suggesting the blistered volcanic blanket may be hiding a vast sheet of glacier ice underneath it.
From Science Daily • Mar. 13, 2024
Some of those leftovers are linked to the last-minute installation of rootless trees, two volunteers told The Associated Press.
From Washington Times • Oct. 24, 2023
To account for Lisa Marie Presley, the royal saga must first incorporate Priscilla Presley, a rootless and beautiful foundling of the World War II aftermath.
From Washington Post • Jan. 13, 2023
Now if we go back we will be weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
