## English

### Etymology

From French radical, from Late Latin rādīcālis (of or pertaining to the root, having roots, radical), from Latin rādix (root); see radix.

### Pronunciation

• enPR: rădʹĭk-əl, IPA(key): /ˈɹædɪkəl/
•  Audio (AU) (file)

1. Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter.
2. () Pertaining to a root (of a plant).
3. Pertaining to the basic or intrinsic nature of something.
• (Can we date this quote by Burke and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only showed their radical independence.
Synonym: fundamental
Antonyms: ignorable, trivial
4. Thoroughgoing; far-reaching.
• 2012 January 1, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 1, page 70:
Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.
The spread of the cancer required radical surgery, and the entire organ was removed.
5. () Of or pertaining to the root of a word.
6. (phonology, phonetics, not comparable, of a sound) Produced using the root of the tongue.
Coordinate terms: coronal, dorsal, labial, laryngeal
8. (mathematics) Relating to a radix or mathematical root.
9. (slang, 1980s & 1990s) Excellent; awesome.

#### Synonyms

• (linguistics, in reference to words): primitive

#### Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

### Noun

1. (historical: 19th-century Britain) A member of the most progressive wing of the Liberal Party; someone favouring social reform (but generally stopping short of socialism).
2. (historical: early 20th-century France) A member of an influential, centrist political party favouring moderate social reform, a republican constitution, and secular politics.
3. A person with radical opinions.
4. (arithmetic) A root (of a number or quantity).
5. (linguistics) In logographic writing systems such as the Chinese writing system, the portion of a character (if any) that provides an indication of its meaning, as opposed to phonetic.
6. (linguistics) In Semitic languages, any one of the set of consonants (typically three) that make up a root.
7. (chemistry) A group of atoms, joined by covalent bonds, that take part in reactions as a single unit.
8. (organic chemistry) A free radical.
9. (algebra, commutative algebra, ring theory, of an ideal) Given an ideal I in a commutative ring R, another ideal, denoted Rad(I) or ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {I}}}$ , such that an element xR is in Rad(I) if, for some positive integer n, xnI; equivalently, the intersection of all prime ideals containing I.
10. (algebra, ring theory, of a ring) Given a ring R, an ideal containing elements of R that share a property considered, in some sense, "not good".
11. (algebra, ring theory, of a module) The intersection of maximal submodules of a given module.
12. (number theory) The product of the distinct prime factors of a given positive integer.

#### Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

## French

### Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin rādīcālis.

### Pronunciation

• IPA(key): /ʁa.di.kal/
• Rhymes: -al
•  Audio (France, Paris) (file)

L'idéologie islamiste radicale a causé vingt millions de morts dans le nord du Nigéria.
Radical Islamist ideology caused twenty million deaths in northern Nigeria.

## Galician

### Pronunciation

 This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

## Portuguese

### Noun

1. () root (primary lexical unit of a word)

### Noun

1. radical (person holding unorthodox views)

#### Synonyms

2. drastic; extreme
3. () excellent; awesome; thrilling
4. (sports) extreme (dangerous)

## Spanish

### Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ra‧di‧cal