Dictionary

deracinate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /dɪˈɹæsɪneɪt/
• /dɪˈɹæsəneɪt/
• (US) audio

Etymology

PIE word *wréh₂ds First attested in 1609; calque of French déraciner on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), from racine (“root”), from Latin rādīx, rādīcis (“a root”).

Meanings

1. To pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate.
   • The State has no tool delicate enough to deracinate the rooted habits and tangled affections of the family; the two sexes, whether happy or unhappy, are glued together too tightly for us to get the blade of a legal penknife in between them. 1910, Gilbert K[eith] Chesterton, “chapter 1.7”, in What’s Wrong with the World, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, […], →OCLC:
   • Divert and crack, rend and deracinate, The unity and married calm of states Quite from their fixture! c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
2. To force (people) from their homeland to a new or foreign location.
3. (intransitive, transitive) To liberate or be liberated from a culture or its norms.
   • Observing the highest echelons of Indian society, she notes the way in which some Indians become completely — almost absurdly — anglicized or deracinated. 1986, Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert MacNeil, The Story of English, Viking Penguin Inc., page 328:

Forms

Relateds

eradicate · wort · root · radix · radical · radish

Translations (20)

it estirpare (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · it sradicare (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · es desarraigar (force (people) from their homeland to a new or foreign location) · es desenraizar (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · de entwurzeln (force (people) from their homeland to a new or foreign location) · mk о́ткорне (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · pt desenraizar (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · it sradicare (force (people) from their homeland to a new or foreign location) · nl deracineren (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · de entwurzeln (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · fr déraciner (force (people) from their homeland to a new or foreign location) · pt extirpar (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · nl ontwortelen (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · fr déraciner (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · el ξεριζώνω (force (people) from their homeland to a new or foreign location) · sv rycka upp med rötterna (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · et juurima (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · el ξεριζώνω (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate) · nl onthemen (force (people) from their homeland to a new or foreign location) · es desraizar (pull up by the roots; to uproot; to extirpate)