RADICAL


Meaning of RADICAL in English

— radicalness , n.

/rad"i keuhl/ , adj.

1. of or going to the root or origin; fundamental: a radical difference.

2. thoroughgoing or extreme, esp. as regards change from accepted or traditional forms: a radical change in the policy of a company.

3. favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms: radical ideas; radical and anarchistic ideologues.

4. forming a basis or foundation.

5. existing inherently in a thing or person: radical defects of character.

6. Math.

a. pertaining to or forming a root.

b. denoting or pertaining to the radical sign.

c. irrational (def. 5b).

7. Gram. of or pertaining to a root.

8. Bot. of or arising from the root or the base of the stem.

n.

9. a person who holds or follows strong convictions or extreme principles; extremist.

10. a person who advocates fundamental political, economic, and social reforms by direct and often uncompromising methods.

11. Math.

a. a quantity expressed as a root of another quantity.

b. the set of elements of a ring, some power of which is contained in a given ideal.

c. See radical sign .

12. Chem.

a. group (def. 3).

b. See free radical .

13. Gram. root (def. 11).

14. (in Chinese writing) one of 214 ideographic elements used in combination with phonetics to form thousands of different characters.

[ 1350-1400; ME radicalis having roots, equiv. to L radic- (s. of radix ) ROOT 1 + -alis -AL 1 ]

Syn. 1. basic, essential; original, innate, ingrained. 2. complete, unqualified, thorough; drastic, excessive, immoderate, violent. RADICAL, EXTREME, FANATICAL denote that which goes beyond moderation or even to excess in opinion, belief, action, etc. RADICAL emphasizes the idea of going to the root of a matter, and this often seems immoderate in its thoroughness or completeness: radical ideas; radical changes or reforms. EXTREME applies to excessively biased ideas, intemperate conduct, or repressive legislation: to use extreme measures.

FANATICAL is applied to a person who has extravagant views, esp. in matters of religion or morality, which render that person incapable of sound judgments; and excessive zeal which leads him or her to take violent action against those who have differing views: fanatical in persecuting others.

Ant. 1, 2. superficial.

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .