root out

phrasal verb

rooted out; rooting out; roots out

: to find and remove (something or someone)

The mayor was determined to root out corruption in city government.

: to find (something or someone) after searching for a long time

He finally rooted out the cause of the problem.

Examples of root out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The state leaders, charged with oversight of the system and rooting out criminal activity, didn't put the scope of the fraud together until 2023. —

Arizona Republic, The Arizona Republic, 7 June 2024 Whole neighborhoods have been leveled in Israel’s attempt to root out Hamas fighters in tunnels. —

Bloomberg News, Hartford Courant, 18 Apr. 2024 The crisis in humanitarian supplies has spiraled in the two weeks since Israel began an incursion into Rafah on May 6, vowing to root out Hamas fighters. —

Ellen Knickmeyer and Samy Magdy, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 May 2024 Since the brutal attack against innocent Israeli citizens, there has been a significant military response to free Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and root out the terrorist leaders who perpetrated the attack. —

Baltimore Sun Media, Baltimore Sun, 11 Apr. 2024 See all Example Sentences for root out

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'root out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.