Radically

How to spell radically

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce radically

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does radically mean?

1. adverbIn a way that is fundamental, thorough, or far-reaching; completely or at the root.

Radically in a sentence

• The new manager radically changed how the team reported its hours.

• Prices have shifted radically since the supplier raised its rates.

Where does radically come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This adverb traces back to the Latin noun radix, which literally meant 'root', the part of a plant from which everything else grows. From radix Latin formed radicalis, meaning 'relating to or forming the root', and English borrowed the adjective 'radical' through this channel in the late 1300s, at first in a botanical and medical sense to describe something fundamental or rooted at the source. Over time 'radical' came to mean a change that goes right down to the root rather than just the surface, which is how it picked up its modern political and dramatic overtones. The adverb 'radically' was then formed in the usual English way by adding -ly, and it carries the idea of changing something at its very foundation. The same root survives in the everyday word 'radish' (a root vegetable) and in 'eradicate', literally to tear out by the roots, so the spelling 'radic-' is worth fixing in memory as a family of root words.

How the word is built

• radic- (from radix: root)
• -al (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)