uproot

verb

up·​root (ˌ)əp-ˈrüt  -ˈru̇t 

uprooted; uprooting; uproots

transitive verb

1

: to remove as if by pulling up

striving to uproot poverty

2

: to pull up by the roots

Many trees were uprooted by the storm.

3

: to displace from a country or traditional habitat

Taking the job would mean uprooting my family.

uprootedness noun

uprooter noun

Synonyms of uproot

• pry
• pull
• yank
• extract
• pluck

Choose the Right Synonym for uproot

exterminate, extirpate, eradicate, uproot mean to effect the destruction or abolition of something.

exterminate implies complete and immediate extinction by killing off all individuals.

exterminate cockroaches

extirpate implies extinction of a race, family, species, or sometimes an idea or doctrine by destruction or removal of its means of propagation.

many species have been extirpated from the area

eradicate implies the driving out or elimination of something that has established itself.

a campaign to eradicate illiteracy

uproot implies a forcible or violent removal and stresses displacement or dislodgment rather than immediate destruction.

the war uprooted thousands

Examples of uproot in a Sentence

Many trees were uprooted by the storm.

Will we ever be able to uproot racial prejudice?

Taking the job would mean uprooting my family.

Recent Examples on the Web

Barb Deardorff, who lives near Tefft, said Tuesday night’s storm damaged her pool cover, uprooted a tree, and left debris in her yard that’s not from her one-story farmhouse. —Alexandra Kukulka, Chicago Tribune, 12 Mar. 2026

Serkis and Peter Jackson spent most of last year coaxing Winslet to appear in the film, which means uprooting to New Zealand to shoot her scenes in the film from late May through to October. —Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 11 Mar. 2026

The hair-whipping, chest-thumping church founder uprooted her polarizing sect from Manchester, England, to Manhattan before fleeing farther still into the countryside. —Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2026

The historian John David Lewis has eloquently described American efforts to discredit and uproot the regime’s ideology from schools and government, and to block from political office former regime leaders. —Elan Journo, Oc Register, 10 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1620, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for uproot

• acute
• aleut
• astute
• beetroot
• breadfruit
• cheroot
• commute
• compute
• confute
• dilute
• dispute
• elute

Kids Definition

uproot

verb

up·​root (ˌ)ə-ˈprüt  -ˈpru̇t 

: to remove by or as if by pulling up by the roots

uproot a vine

families uprooted by war