root and branch
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See also: root-and-branch
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From the Bible.[1] Used as a title for the Root and Branch petition presented to the Long Parliament on December 11, 1640.
Adjective
[edit]root and branch (not comparable)
- Total, thorough, sweeping, complete, radical, drastic.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:total
- 1921, Lytton Strachey, Queen Victoria[1]:
- When, in 1872, Sir Charles Dilke once more returned to the charge in the House of Commons, introducing a motion for a full enquiry into the Queen's expenditure with a view to a root and branch reform of the Civil List, […]
- 2022 October 27, Damian Carrington, quoting Inger Andersen, “Climate crisis: UN finds ‘no credible pathway to 1.5C in place’”, in The Guardian[2]:
- We had our chance to make incremental changes, but that time is over. Only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster.
- 2023 January 19, Aletha Adu, quoting Keir Starmer, “Keir Starmer suggests Met explore changing name in ‘root and branch’ review”, in The Guardian[3], →ISSN:
- Keir Starmer has indicated the Metropolitan police might need to change its name as part of a much-needed “root and branch” review in the wake of the David Carrick case.
- 2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 52:
- In his favour, Beeching declared that he supported carrying on with the existing modernisation projects, but that the rest of the business needed root and branch reform.
Translations
[edit]complete, total — see also complete
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Adverb
[edit]root and branch (not comparable)
- Totally, completely.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:completely
- 1876, Anthony Trollope, chapter LV, in The Prime Minister. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:
- "I can't help coming, sir," continued Mrs. Parker. "Where am I to go if I don't come? Mr. Lopez, sir, has ruined us root and branch,—root and branch."
- 1905 April, Jack London, “(please specify the page)”, in War of the Classes, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- And far be it from me to deny that socialism is a menace. It is its purpose to wipe out, root and branch, all capitalistic institutions of present-day society.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]totally — see also totally
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Malachi 4:1: “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”