radical

adjective

  1. 1

    especially of leaves; located at the base of a plant or stem; especially arising directly from the root or rootstock or a root-like stem

    basal placentation

    radical leaves

  2. 2

    (used of opinions and actions) far beyond the norm

    extremist political views

    radical opinions on education

  3. 3

    markedly new or introducing radical change

    a revolutionary discovery

    radical political views

  4. 4

    arising from or going to the root or source

    a radical flaw in the plan

  5. 5

    of or relating to or constituting a linguistic root

    a radical verb form

noun

  1. 1

    (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed

    thematic vowels are part of the stem

  2. 2

    a character conveying the lexical meaning of a logogram

  3. 3

    a person who has radical ideas or opinions

  4. 4

    (mathematics) a quantity expressed as the root of another quantity

  5. 5

    (chemistry) two or more atoms bound together as a single unit and forming part of a molecule

  6. 6

    an atom or group of atoms with at least one unpaired electron; in the body it is usually an oxygen molecule that has lost an electron and will stabilize itself by stealing an electron from a nearby molecule

    in the body free radicals are high-energy particles that ricochet wildly and damage cells

Synonyms

Also useful for “radical”:Unscrambler