get to the root of something Definition

root¹
noun

1a. bot.
In vascular plants: the descending structure, lacking leaves and chlorophyll, that usually grows beneath the soil surface, and whose function is to anchor the plant in the soil and to absorb water and mineral nutrients;
1b. loosely
Any of the branches of this structure;
1c. A growing plant with its root;


Example: root vegetable
2. The part by which anything is attached to or embedded in something larger.
3. anatomy.
The embedded part of eg a tooth, hair, nail or similar structure.
4a. The basic cause, source or origin of something;

Example: the root of the problem
Thesaurus: origin, source, starting point, beginnings, stem, derivation, cause, basis, essence, nucleus, germ, seed, heart.


Example: the root cause
5a. Someone's ancestry or family origins;

Thesaurus: beginnings, origins, heritage, background, family.
Form: roots
5b. Someone's feeling of belonging, eg ethnically, culturally, etc, to a community or in a certain place.

Example: go back to one's roots
Thesaurus: home, birthplace.
Form: roots
6. linguistics.
The basic element in a word which remains after all affixes have been removed, and which may form the basis of a number of related words, eg love is the root of lovable, lovely, lover and unloved. See also stem.
7. math.
A factor of a quantity that, when multiplied by itself a specified number of times, produces that quantity, eg 2 is the square root of 4 and the cube root of 8.
8. math.
In an algebraic equation: the value or values of an unknown quantity or variable that represent the solution to that equation. Also called solution.
9. music.
In harmony: the fundamental note on which a chord is built.

verb rooted, rooting

intr
1. To grow roots.
intr
2. To become firmly established.

Thesaurus: establish, set, fix, implant, anchor, embed, ground, entrench, sink, moor.
3. To dig it up by the roots.

Form: root something up (usually)
Form: root something out
4. To fix something with or as if with roots.
5. To provide something with roots.
(Austral & NZ)
tr & intr
6. coarse slang
To have sexual intercourse with someone.

Derivative: rootless

With no roots.

With no fixed home; wandering.

Derivative: rootlike
adj

Idiom: get to the root of something

To find its underlying cause.

Idiom: root and branch

Thoroughly; completely.

Idiom: take root (strike root)

To grow roots.

To become firmly established.
Thesaurus: grow, start, commence.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon rot.

Phrasal Verb: root something out

To remove or destroy it completely.