5 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

radical

adjective

1: (used of opinions and actions) far beyond the norm; "extremist political views"; "radical opinions on education"; "an ultra conservative" [syn: {extremist}, {ultra}]

2: markedly new or introducing radical change; "a revolutionary discovery"; "radical political views" [syn: {revolutionary}]

3: arising from or going to the root; "a radical flaw in the plan"

4: of or relating to or constituting a linguistic root; "a radical verb form"

5: 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" [syn: {basal}] [ant: {cauline}]

noun

1: (chemistry) two or more atoms bound together as a single unit and forming part of a molecule [syn: {group}, {chemical group}]

2: an atom or group of atoms with at least one unpaired electron; in the body it is usually an oxygen molecule than 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" [syn: {free radical}]

3: a person who has radical ideas or opinions

4: a character conveying the lexical meaning of a logogram

5: a sign placed in front of an expression to denote that a root is to be extracted [syn: {radical sign}]

6: (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem" [syn: {root}, {root word}, {base}, {stem}, {theme}]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Radical \Rad"i*cal\ (r[a^]d"[i^]*kal), adjective [F., fr. L. radicalis having roots, fr. radix, -icis, a root. See {Radix}.]

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

2. 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.

3. (Bot.) (a) Belonging to, or proceeding from, the root of a plant; as, radical tubers or hairs. (b) Proceeding from a rootlike stem, or one which does not rise above the ground; as, the radical leaves of the dandelion and the sidesaddle flower.

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

5. (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. --Rush.

{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.

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

Syn: Primitive; original; natural; underived; fundamental; entire.

Usage: {Radical}, {Entire}. These words are frequently employed as interchangeable in describing some marked alteration in the condition of things. There is, however, an obvious difference between them. A radical cure, reform, etc., is one which goes to the root of the thing in question; and it is entire, in the sense that, by affecting the root, it affects in an appropriate degree the entire body nourished by the root; but it may not be entire in the sense of making a change complete in its nature, as well as in its extent. Hence, we speak of a radical change; a radical improvement; radical differences of opinion; while an entire change, an entire improvement, an entire difference of opinion, might indicate more than was actually intended. A certain change may be both radical and entire, in every sense.

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Radical \Rad"i*cal\ (r[a^]d"[i^]*kal), noun

1. (Philol.) (a) A primitive word; a radix, root, or simple, underived, uncompounded word; an etymon. (b) A primitive letter; a letter that belongs to the radix.

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.

2. (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.

3. (Chem.) (a) 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. (b) 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}.

4. (Alg.) A radical quantity. See under {Radical}, adjective

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.)

5. (Anat.) A radical vessel. See under {Radical}, adjective

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Residue \Res"i*due\ (r?z"?-d?), noun [F. r['e]sidu, L. residuum, fr. residuus that is left behind, remaining, fr. residere to remain behind. See {Reside}, and cf. {Residuum}.]

1. That which remains after a part is taken, separated, removed, or designated; remnant; remainder.

The residue of them will I deliver to the sword. --Jer. xv. 9.

If church power had then prevailed over its victims, not a residue of English liberty would have been saved. --I. Taylor.

2. (Law) That part of a testeator's estate wwhich is not disposed of in his will by particular and special legacies and devises, and which remains after payment of debts and legacies.

3. (Chem.) That which remains of a molecule after the removal of a portion of its constituents; hence, an atom or group regarded as a portion of a molecule; a {moiety} or {group}; -- used as nearly equivalent to {radical}, but in a more general sense. [1913 Webster +PJC]

Note: The term radical is sometimes restricted to groups containing carbon, the term residue and {moiety} being applied to the others.

4. (Theory of Numbers) Any positive or negative number that differs from a given number by a multiple of a given modulus; thus, if 7 is the modulus, and 9 the given number, the numbers -5, 2, 16, 23, etc., are residues.

Syn: Rest; remainder; remnant; balance; residuum; remains; leavings; relics.

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

429 Moby Thesaurus words for "radical": 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, basic, 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, complete, 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, essential, even, exhaustive, exponential, extreme, 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, insurgent, 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, natural, near, near side, negative, neutralizer, nigh, nihilist, nihilistic, nonacid, numeral, numerary, numerative, numeric, octad, odd, of the essence, ogham, omnibus, omnipresent, ordinal, organic, 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, revolutionary, 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, total, transcendental, transilient, triad, trimer, ubiquitous, ultra, 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

  Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information.