— 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.