Radical

Definition of Radical

Rad´i`cal Pronunciation: răd´ĭ`kal

Of or pertaining to the root; proceeding directly from the root.

Hence: Of or pertaining to the root or origin; reaching to the center, to the foundation, to the ultimate sources, to the principles, or the like; original; fundamental; thorough-going; unsparing; extreme; as, radical evils; radical reform; a radical party.

The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only showed their radical independence.

- Burke.

(Bot.) Belonging to, or proceeding from, the root of a plant; as, radical tubers or hairs.

(Philol.) Relating, or belonging, to the root, or ultimate source of derivation; as, a radical verbal form.

(Math.) Of or pertaining to a radix or root; as, a radical quantity; a radical sign. See below.

Radical axis of two circles
(Geom.) See under Axis.

Radical pitch
the pitch or tone with which the utterance of a syllable begins.

Radical quantity
(Alg.) a quantity to which the radical sign is prefixed; specifically, a quantity which is not a perfect power of the degree indicated by the radical sign; a surd. - Rush.

Radical sign
(Math.) the sign ? (originally the letter r, the initial of radix, root), placed before any quantity, denoting that its root is to be extracted; thus, ?a, or ?(a + b). To indicate any other than the square root, a corresponding figure is placed over the sign; thus, a, indicates the third or cube root of a.

Radical stress
(Elocution) force of utterance falling on the initial part of a syllable or sound.

Radical vessels
(Anat.) minute vessels which originate in the substance of the tissues.

(Philol.) A primitive word; a radix, root, or simple, underived, uncompounded word; an etymon.

The words we at present make use of, and understand only by common agreement, assume a new air and life in the understanding, when you trace them to their radicals, where you find every word strongly stamped with nature; full of energy, meaning, character, painting, and poetry.

- Cleland.

(Politics) One who advocates radical changes in government or social institutions, especially such changes as are intended to level class inequalities; - opposed to conservative.

In politics they [the Independents] were, to use the phrase of their own time, "Root-and-Branch men," or, to use the kindred phrase of our own, Radicals.

- Macaulay.

(Chem.) A characteristic, essential, and fundamental constituent of any compound; hence, sometimes, an atom.

As a general rule, the metallic atoms are basic radicals, while the nonmetallic atoms are acid radicals.

- J. P. Cooke.

Specifically, a group of two or more atoms, not completely saturated, which are so linked that their union implies certain properties, and are conveniently regarded as playing the part of a single atom; a residue; - called also a compound radical. Cf. Residue.

(Alg.) A radical quantity. See under Radical, a.

An indicated root of a perfect power of the degree indicated is not a radical but a rational quantity under a radical form.

- Davies & Peck (Math. Dict.

(Anat.) A radical vessel. See under Radical, a.

Related Words

Bolshevik, Bolshevist, Fabian, Gospel side, IC analysis, Jacobin, Kekule formula, Wobbly, ab ovo, aboriginal, absolute, accidence, acid, acidity, advanced, affix, affixation, agent, agitator, algorismic, algorithmic, aliquot, alkali, alkalinity, all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-inclusive, all-out, all-pervading, alloisomer, allomorph, anarchist, anarchistic, anarcho-syndicalist, anion, antacid, arrowhead, at the height, at the limit, atom, atomic cluster, basal, base, basement, basilar, basis, bearing wall, bed, bedding, bedrock, beginning, benzene ring, biochemical, born, bottom, bound morpheme, branched chain, broad, broad-based, broad-minded, cantorial side, cardinal, cataclysmic, catastrophic, cation, central, chain, character, chemical, chemical element, chromoisomer, clean, clear, closed chain, commencement, communist, compound, compound radical, comprehensive, conception, congenital, conjugation, constituent, constitutional, constitutive, consummate, copolymer, corrective, counterclockwise, crucial, cuneiform, cutting, cycle, decimal, declension, deep, deep-dyed, deep-seated, demotic character, derivation, determinative, difference of form, differential, digital, dimer, downright, drastic, dyad, dyed-in-the-wool, egregious, element, elemental, elementary, embryonic, emendatory, enclitic, entire, even, exhaustive, exponential, extreme left-winger, extremist, extremistic, fanatic, fanatical, far out, figural, figurate, figurative, finite, floor, flooring, fond, footing, formative, foundation, foundational, fractional, free form, fundament, fundamental, furthest, generative, genesis, genetic, germinal, gradualistic, grammalogue, grass roots, greatest, ground, grounds, groundwork, gut, hardpan, head, heavy chemicals, heptad, heterocycle, hexad, hieratic symbol, hieroglyph, hieroglyphic, hieroglyphics, high polymer, hiragana, homocycle, homopolymer, hydracid, ideogram, ideograph, imaginary, immediate constituent analysis, immoderate, impair, impossible, in embryo, in ovo, inception, infinite, infix, infixation, inflection, inherent, inorganic chemical, insurrectionary, insurrectionist, integral, intensive, intrinsic, ion, irrational, isomer, kana, katakana, larboard, lattice, left, left hand, left wing, left-hand, left-hand side, left-wing, left-wing extremist, left-winger, left-wingish, leftist, levorotatory, liberal, logarithmic, logogram, logograph, logometric, lunatic fringe, macromolecule, material, meliorist, melioristic, metamer, mild radical, mildly radical, militant, molecule, monad, monomer, morph, morpheme, morphemic analysis, morphemics, morphology, morphophonemics, most, near, near side, negative, neutralizer, nigh, nihilist, nihilistic, nonacid, numeral, numerary, numerative, numeric, octad, odd, of the essence, ogham, omnibus, omnipresent, ordinal, organic chemical, origin, original, origination, out-and-out, outright, oxyacid, pair, paradigm, parlor Bolshevik, parlor pink, pavement, pentad, perfect, pervasive, phonetic, phonetic symbol, pictogram, pictograph, pink, pinko, plain, plumb, polymer, port, port tack, portside, positive, possible, prefix, prefixation, pregnant, primal, primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primordial, principal, principle, pristine, proclitic, profound, progressionist, progressist, progressive, progressivist, protogenic, provenience, pseudoisomer, pure, rabid, radix, rational, reagent, rebel, reciprocal, red, reformational, reformative, reformatory, reformer, reformist, reformistic, regular, revisional, revisionist, revisory, revolutional, revolutionist, revulsionary, revulsive, ring, riprap, rise, rock bottom, root, rudiment, rudimentary, rune, sans-culotte, seat, secessionist, seminal, separatist, severe, sheer, shorthand, side chain, sill, simple radical, sinister, sinistral, sinistrocerebral, sinistrocular, sinistrogyrate, sinistrorse, solid ground, solid rock, source, space-lattice, stem, stereobate, stock, straight, straight chain, stylobate, submultiple, substantial, substantive, substratum, substruction, substructure, subversive, suffix, suffixation, sulfacid, surd, sweeping, syndicalist, taproot, terra firma, tetrad, theme, thorough, thoroughgoing, through-and-through, tolerant, too much, transcendental, transilient, triad, trimer, ubiquitous, ultra-ultra, ultraconservative, ultraist, ultraistic, unconditional, underbuilding, undercarriage, undergirding, underlying, underpinning, understruction, understructure, universal, unmitigated, unqualified, unreserved, unrestricted, utmost, utopian, utopist, utter, uttermost, veritable, verso, vital, way out, wedge, wholesale, wide, word letter, word-formation, wrong side, yippie, zealot

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Radiale
Radially
Radian
Radiance
Radiant
Radiant energy
Radiant engine
Radiant heat
Radiant point
Radiantly
Radiary
Radiata
Radiate
Radiate-veined
Radiated
Radiately
Radiatiform
Radiation
Radiative
Radiator
-Radical-
Radical axis of two circles
Radical pitch
Radical quantity
Radical sign
Radical stress
Radical vessels
Radical vinegar
Radicalism
Radicality
Radically
Radicalness
Radicant
Radicate
Radicated
Radication
Radicel
Radiciflorous
Radiciform
Radicle
Radicular

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