Definition & Meaning of "radical"

(of actions, ideas, etc.) very new and different from the norm

arising from or going to the root or source

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

of or relating to or constituting a linguistic root

an atom or group of atoms with at least one unpaired electron; in the body it is usually an oxygen molecule that has lost an electron and will stabilize itself by stealing an electron from a nearby molecule

a person whose political inclination is social and political change

a character conveying the lexical meaning of a logogram

(linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed

(mathematics) a quantity expressed as the root of another quantity