uproot
Americanverb (used with object)
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to pull out by or as if by the roots.
The hurricane uprooted many trees and telephone poles.
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to remove violently or tear away from a native place or environment.
The industrial revolution uprooted large segments of the rural population.
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to destroy or eradicate as if by pulling out roots.
The conquerors uprooted many of the Native traditions.
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to displace, as from a home or country; tear away, as from customs or a way of life.
to uproot a people.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to pull up by or as if by the roots
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to displace (a person or persons) from native or habitual surroundings
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to remove or destroy utterly
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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uprootsimple
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uprootssimple
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have uprootedperfect
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has uprootedperfect
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am uprootingprogressive
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are uprootingprogressive
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is uprootingprogressive
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have been uprootingperfect progressive
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has been uprootingperfect progressive
Past
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uprootedsimple
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had uprootedperfect
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was uprootingprogressive
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were uprootingprogressive
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had been uprootingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of uproot
Explanation
When you uproot people, you move them from one place to a completely new one. Your parents may need to uproot you if your mom gets a new job all the way across the country. One meaning of the verb uproot is "move," especially when a person is forced to move. Another way to use uproot is more literal: to pull a plant out of the ground, roots and all. You might, for example, uproot your favorite rose bush and replant it in a sunnier spot in your garden. Interestingly, the figurative sense of uproot is about a hundred years older than the literal meaning, which was first used in the late 1600's.
Vocabulary lists containing uproot
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Purple Hibiscus
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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.
But Reger has no plans to uproot Neura's business, which is collaborating with German car component suppliers Bosch and Schaeffler on factory automation.
From Barron's • Jun. 19, 2026
Once a false image takes hold, it is nearly impossible to uproot, and the flood of fabricated content has a corrosive effect: It makes us doubt everything.
From Salon • May 24, 2026
If he had decided to run for the Dallas-area seat, he would have had to resign from Congress, uproot his family and move to Texas.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2025
As women water vegetables and uproot weeds in a rural corner of north-eastern Nigeria, men in uniform stand guard nearby holding huge rifles.
From BBC • Oct. 22, 2025
But first he had to convince Mom to uproot herself and that was not going to be easy.
From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos
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.
