| 释义 |
radical, a. and n.|ˈrædɪkəl|
Also 5–6 radycall, 5–7 -icall.
[ad. late L. rādīcāl-is (Augustine), f. rādīc- radix. F. radical (15–16th c. as adj.) is the direct source of sense 4 of the n.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to a root or to roots.
1. a. radical humidity, radical humour, radical moisture, radical sap: In mediæval philosophy, the humour or moisture naturally inherent in all plants and animals, its presence being a necessary condition of their vitality. So radical heat.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xlii. (Bodl. MS.) Radical humouris isente into þe herbe. a1412Lydg. Two Merchants 313 Thilke humydite i-called radical. 1471Ripley Comp. Alch. vi. xx. in Ashm. (1652) 166 Moysture radycall, whych theyr begynnyng was. 1530Rastell Bk. Purgat. iii. vii. 2 The radycall naturall humour of that appell wyll increase whyle it is growynge. 1601Holland Pliny I. 531 The better will she imploy her radicall sap and moisture to fructifie and yeeld good store of grapes. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §43 Though the radicall humor containe in it sufficient oyle for seventy, yet I perceive in some it gives no light past thirty. 1772Fletcher Appeal Wks. 1795 I. 46 His intense application hath..almost dried up his radical moisture. 1818Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 235 Our wood fire scarcely suffices to keep up the radical heat. 1863Kingsley Water Bab. 330 Being a water-baby, his radical humours were of a moist and cold nature.
fig.1626Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1856) I. 445 These affections be the radical humour or sap. 1635Quarles Embl. iv. xii. 230 Whilst thus my sorrow-wasting soule was feeding Upon the rad'cal Humour of her thought. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. ix. §15 Edward..took order, that these Aliens should no longer prey on the Radical moisture of this Land.
b. Of qualities: Inherent in the nature or essence of a thing or person; fundamental.
1562W. Bullein Def. agst. Sickness, Bk. Sicke men 69 b, It doeth..consume, and waste the beste humour, or one of the radical vertues. 1611Tourneur Ath. Trag. v. i. Wks. 1878 I. 137 These bodies are depriu'd of all The radicall abilitie of nature. 1663J. Heath Flagellum or O. Cromwell (ed. 2) 4 [Cromwell's] main policy was a radical and original Hypocrisie. 1775Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 23 The radical vigour of the Mother-country. 1806Med. Jrnl. XV. 220 The radical diversity of these rival maladies. 1828J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) p. xiv, I have pointed out..a radical error in the graduation of these scales. 1871R. H. Hutton Ess. (1877) I. Pref. 12 A sneer at the radical rottenness of human nature.
c. Philos. radical empiricism: a name given by W. James (1842–1910) to a philosophical position according to which even underlying postulates are regarded as hypotheses to be verified (see quot. 1897); more generally, a rigorous or sceptical empiricism; hence radical empiricist, one who adopts this position. Similarly radical pluralism, radical pluralist.
1897W. James Will to Believe p. vii, Were I obliged to give a short name to the attitude in question, I should call it that of radical empiricism... I say ‘empiricism’, because it is contented to regard its most assured conclusions concerning matters of fact as hypotheses liable to modification in the course of future experience; and I say ‘radical’, because it treats the doctrine of monism itself as an hypothesis. Ibid. p. ix, This is pluralism, somewhat rhapsodically expressed. He who takes for his hypothesis the notion that it is the permanent form of the world is what I call a radical empiricist. 1904― Ess. Radical Empiricism (1912) ii. 90 These are the main features of a philosophy of pure experience... In my own mind such a philosophy harmonizes best with a radical pluralism. 1911― Some Prob. Philos. x. 164 He concluded that such realities as present beings, past events and causes, steps of change and parts of matter, must needs exist in limited amount. This made of him a radical pluralist. 1949Mind LVIII. 369, I remember well the dismay in an undergraduate philosophical society when one of the members..announced that he had adopted the ‘radical pluralism’ of this author [sc. Russell]. 1965P. A. Bertocci in B. B. Wolman Scientific Psychol. xvi. 295 Radical empiricism, synoptic examination as well as analysis—this is the methodology that alone can provide hypotheses which..will not lose their anchorage in what is phenomenally given. 1973K. B. Madsen in D. Berlyne Pleasure, Reward, Preference xi. 286 We expect a radical empiricist to be a materialist rather than a dualist.
2. a. Forming the root, basis, or foundation; original, primary.
1560Rolland Crt. Venus Prol. 235 Idilnes is Mother Radycall, Of all vicis, and font originall. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lv. §4 They intimate the radicall cause out of which it groweth. a1639W. Whately Prototypes i. xi. (1640) 94 This grace of faith is the radicall grace, that upon which all other graces grow as on their roote. a1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. ii. 305 Not..all those kinds which we now see,..but only those primitive and radical Species. 1755Johnson Dict. Pref. ⁋50 When the radical idea branches out into parallel ramifications. 1811Pinkerton Petral. Introd. 30 The position that granite is the universally radical rock. 1871Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. Vauvenargues (1878) 4 A syllabus of the radical articles of the French creed of the eighteenth century.
b. Anat. = radicular 2 b.
18..Dunglison (cited by Worcester 1860).
3. a. Going to the root or origin; touching or acting upon what is essential and fundamental; thorough; esp. radical change, radical cure.
1651Baxter Inf. Bapt. 294 Out of which Radical Regeneration..the exercised act of Faith and Graces is wont to be educed. 1735Bolingbroke On Parties xviii. 220 Such a Remedy might have wrought a radical Cure of the Evil, that threatens our Constitution. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 171 ⁋3 Desirous to fit men to his purpose by complete and radical corruption. 1802Med. Jrnl. VIII. 353 A radical and systematic change of that mode of living. 1865Seeley Ecce Homo iv. (ed. 8) 34 Christ undertook a work more radical than that of Moses. 1874Green Short Hist. iv. §2. 171 The financial difficulties of the Crown led to a far more radical revolution in the admission into the Great Council.
b. radical reform, a thorough reform; esp. as a phrase of English politics in the end of the 18th and early part of the 19th century.
a1786J. Jebb in Disney Life Wks. 1787 I. 194 The necessity of a substantial and radical reform in the representation. 1798Acme & Septimius in Anti-Jacobin 5 Feb., May success..lead..To one grand Radical Reform. 1815Paris Chit-Chat (1816) I. 54 Every body seems sensible of the necessity of radical reform both in politics and in manners. 1830Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 227 The actual agent..will be a radical reform in what is called the commons house of parliament.
c. Hence radical reformer = radical n. 5. Also radical reformation.
1781C. Wyvill Polit. Papers (1794) I. vi. viii. 341 While independent men, supported by large bodies of their fellow citizens, have the virtue thus to resist corruption..the hope of a radical reformation cannot be ill-founded. 1809Morning Post 17 June, Reformer radical! I love thy song. 1819Scott Let. to T. Scott 16 Oct. in Lockhart, You will learn enough of the doings of the Radical Reformers from the papers.
d. Politics. Advocating ‘radical reform’ (see sense 3 b above) or any thorough political and social change; representing or supporting the extreme section of a political party; hence, in more recent use (orig. U.S.) left-wing, revolutionary. Also in Comb. with sense ‘radical and ―’.
In Britain in the 19th c., the extreme section of the Liberal party was so designated; on the continent of Europe in the 20th c., parties bearing the title of ‘Radical’ have in fact freq. tended towards the centre or even a conservative standpoint.
1820Shelley Œdipus i. 12 Kings and laurelled Emperors, Radical butchers. 1832J. S. Mill Let. 17 Sept. in Wks. (1963) XII. 117 Several friends of mine, radical-utilitarians of a better than the ordinary sort. 1835Knickerbocker VI. 92 The tendency of Americans, instead of being aristocratic, is decidedly radical. 1837Disraeli in Corr. w. Sister 21 Nov. (1886) 75 Wakley made a most Radical speech and amendment. 1839Gentl. Mag. Nov. 519/1 These Essays are intended to advocate the popular or radical cause. 1840Carlyle Chartism 5 Radical members, above all, friends of the people. 1841S. Bamford Life of Radical I. 58 The presumptuous appearance of a radical hat. 1844C. M. Yonge Abbeychurch xiv. 303 The window..was adorned with all the worst caricatures which had found their way to Abbeychurch, the portraits of sundry radical leaders. 1846J. W. Croker in C. Papers (1884) III. xxiv. 90 If Radical measures were to be carried..they should be carried by Radical men. 1847Semi-Weekly News (Fredericksburgh, Va.) 21 Oct. 2/2 The Barnburners with their ‘Radical democracy’ can never long govern this great State. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Truth Wks. (Bohn) II. 55 The radical mob at Oxford. 1865Atlanta Daily Intelligencer 1 Oct. 3/1 The radical Republicans are now proposing a compromise on the negro-suffrage question. 1884E. W. Hamilton Diary 6 Oct. (1972) II. 699 He is sure the Opposition will insist on our strengthening our Navy and he believes that even the ‘Radical Economists’ will advocate this. 1890W. James Princ. Psychol. I. 24 The more radical-minded reader can always read ‘ideational process’ for ‘idea’. 1905Daily Chron. 30 June 6/2 It is reported that..a Radical-Protectionist Government will take office. 1908Ibid. 6 Apr. 7/4 Under Mr. Asquith, the balance of power in the Government shifts from the Radical-Socialist to the more moderate Radical side. 1912W. E. Walling Socialism as it Is iii. 166 While one element is growing more radical another is growing more conservative and the breach between the Independents and the other Labourites is widening. 1927W. Irwin How Red is America? ii. 47 The half-century when the radical parties were getting their foothold in Europe and America. 1940B. Miall tr. Salvatorelli's Conc. Hist. Italy xx. 616 Since there was an anti-ministerial movement even in the Radical party, Giolitti resigned. 1950Theimer & Campbell Encycl. World Politics 171/2 The radicals..are associated with..the Union démocratique socialiste et radicale, in the Rassemblement des Gauches..; they still use the old name of radical-socialists, but are not socialist. 1953Manch. Guardian Weekly 1 Jan. 2 He deplored the ‘pinks’, ‘radical cliques’ and other victims of the ‘Communist line’. 1965E. Nolte in Rogger & Weber European Right 297 The antigovernmental Right..often attacked Hitler for being a Catholic or insufficiently radical. 1968Ann. Reg. 1967 5 Mr Thorpe represented the radical wing [of the Liberal Party], while Mr Lubbock epitomized the suburban vote. 1969Ann. Reg. 1968 491 British students (with the exception of a radical handful at the London School of Economics in 1967) had been quiet and conservative. 1969[see Marxist a.1]. 1969G. S. Jones in Cockburn & Blackburn Student Power 38 A country [sc. the U.S.] where the hysteria of the Cold War had previously smothered all radical politics. 1974A. J. Gregor Fascist Persuasion in Radical Politics 16 The Fascist emphasis..on the ‘primacy of politics’, on a ‘collectivistic’ rather than a ‘liberal’ social order..are all emphases that have become more and more characteristic of all radical political ideologies.
e. Characterized by independence of, or departure from, what is usual or traditional; progressive, unorthodox, or revolutionary (in outlook, conception, design, etc.).
1921Daily Colonist (Victoria) 20 Mar. 24/1 In appearance the Coats car is attractive, but not at all radical in design. 1928E. O'Neill Strange Interlude i. 15 A natural tendency toward a prim provincialism where practical present-day considerations are concerned (though he is most liberal—even radical—in his tolerant understanding of the manners and morals of Greece and Imperial Rome!). 1938H. A. Murray Explor. in Personality iii. 148 Radical sentiments: the origination, promulgation or defence of sentiments, theories or ideologies that are novel, questionable or opposed to tradition. 1958Listener 23 Oct. 648/1, I would describe as radical paintings that make a difference to our ideas about art. The American contribution to radical art in this sense is particularly to be seen in the big picture. 1962New Statesman 25 May 768/2 A true modernist, a radical functionist, would have rejected this basic proposition. 1971C. Hampden-Turner Radical Man i. 17 While Conservative Man is caused to behave, Radical Man imagines and reasons autonomously. 1977Western Mail (Cardiff) 5 Mar. (Rugby Suppl.) 2/7 The ‘radical rugby thinker’ Jika Travers from Australia and Oxford University, capped as a war veteran at 27.
f. Special collocations in senses 3 d and e, as radical chic, the fasionable affectation of radical left-wing views or of dress, style of life, etc., associated with such views; also transf., those who embody such an affectation; radical feminism, advocacy of radical left-wing views designed to counter the traditional dominance of men over women; hence radical feminist adj. and n.; radical left = New Left; radical right, extremist conservative or fascist views favouring group action to protect or re-instate certain social traditions.
1970T. Wolfe in New York 8 June 40/2 Radical Chic invariably favors radicals who seem primitive, exotic, and romantic, such as the grape workers..the Panthers..and the Red Indians. Ibid. 56/1 Radical Chic..is only radical in style; in its heart it is part of Society and its traditions. Politics, like Rock, Pop, and Camp, has its uses; but [etc.]. 1973Guardian 5 Mar. 20/4 (heading) For a taste of radical chic—try a plum jam buttie. 1977Rolling Stone 24 Mar., Right now bisexuality is the big radical chic on campuses. 1977Daily Tel. 16 July 12 The environmental lobby, a cause largely invented by the Manhattan radical chic. 1980Church Observer Apr. 18/2 By translating the actions of ancient Judea into modern radical chic, the whole story [sc. Monty Python's Life of Brian] comes dangerously close to life today and threatens to upset the safe, neat and tidy arrangement we favour in Sunday morning religion.
1923A. R. Wadia Ethics of Feminism i. 19 These would also have to be studied so as to enable us to judge how far they afford a stable basis for the advocates of radical feminism. 1971S. Firestone Dialectic of Sex ii. 16 In the radical feminist view, the new feminism is not just the revival of a serious political movement for social equality. 1976Papers on Patriarchy Conference London 76 3 Radical feminists/separatists place importance on the subjective, personal perceptions of oppression to provide the guidelines for ‘political’ action. 1977Rolling Stone 24 Mar., I've read some radical feminist reviews of your book which gripe about your excessive closeness to men.
1969N.Y. Times Mag. 9 Feb. 34/1 They are members of a newly assertive radical left group called Women's Liberation. 1970New Yorker 26 Sept. 136 The Wallace voters and the radical right—often ideologically distinct, though not always—and the radical left. 1977Times 21 Sept. 1/6 Although the ‘radical left’ are still only a minority in the institutes of higher education, they deserved serious..rebuttal.
1954T. Taylor Grand Inquest (1955) p. xvi, The Communist Weltanschauung and conception of the individual's relation to the State have much more in common with the nationalism of the radical right than with the liberal internationalism of the left. 1965E. Weber in Rogger & Weber European Right 20 The violence and brutality of the radical Right became acceptable to conservatives who viewed them as defenders against the threat of a radical Left. 1970C. Hampden-Turner Radical Man (1971) ix. 267 This explains the relative efficiency and speed of organized groups on the Radical Right and the Communist Left. 1977M. Walker National Front v. 117 The [Monday] Club accepts..the name ‘Radical Right’.
4. Math.
a. Pertaining to or forming the root of a number or quantity; esp. radical sign, the sign √ used to indicate that a root of the number to which it is prefixed is to be extracted; † radical number (see quot. 1557).
Used by itself, the sign √ indicates that the square root is to be taken; for the cube, biquadratic, etc., appropriate numbers are added, 3√, 4√, etc.
1557Recorde Whetst. S j, Nombers radicalle, whiche commonly bee called nombers irrationalle... Other men call them more aptly Surde numbers. 1570Dee Math. Pref. 5, I..do giue to this Practise, the name of the Arithmetike of Radicall numbers. 1668T. Brancker tr. Rhonii Algebra 43 In the quotient subjoyn the surd part with its first radical Sign. a1746MacLaurin Algebra (1748) i. viii. 44 Placing above the radical Sign the Number that denominates what kind of Root is required. 1897H. F. Baker Abelian Functions 377 The most important of the radical functions are those which are square roots of rational functions.
b. Geom. Used in several terms relating to the intersection of circles and planes, esp. radical axis, radical centre, radical circle, radical plane (cf. quots.).
1848–55Salmon Conic Sect. (ed. 3) ix. §111 The line S–S′..has been called [Note. By M. Gaulier, of Tours..1813] the radical axis of the two circles. Ibid. §113 Given any three circles, if we take the radical axis of each pair of circles, these three lines will meet in a point, and this point is called the radical centre of the three circles. 1889J. Casey Spher. Trig. 101 The circle of the system S, whose plane passes through the centre of the sphere, is called the radical circle of the system.
5. Philol.
a. Of or belonging to the roots of words; connected with, based on, roots. radical word, a simple uncompounded word having the form of, or directly based on, a root.
1577Dee Relat. Spir. i. (1659) 75 No word in his radical form is extended. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. f. 59v, They [sc. the Chinese] haue a vast multitude of Characters, as many (I suppose), as Radicall words. 1641Milton Animadv. i. Wks. (1851) 189 They thought it best not to screw the English mouth to a harsh forreigne termination, so they kept the radicall word. 1777J. Richardson Dissert. East. Nations 2 Radical words in any tongue are expressive of certain customs, objects and modes of thinking. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 347 Three great principles of accentuation..the radical, the terminational, and the distinctive. 1838–9Hallam Hist. Lit. II. ii. i. 15 The arrangement of the lexicon is not according to an alphabetical but a radical order. 1861Max Müller Sc. Lang. 275 As long as every word..is felt to express its own radical meaning, a language belongs to the first or radical stage. 1921E. Sapir Language ii. 29 Radical-words may and do occur in languages of all varieties.
b. radical letter, (a) an original unchanged letter (so also radical sound); (b) a letter belonging to the root of a word.
In sense (a) chiefly used of Welsh initial consonants, which are liable to be altered by a preceding word; in (b) chiefly of the consonants (commonly three in number) of Hebrew roots, and spec. of those which appear in roots only.
(a)c1645Howell Lett. (1650) I. 457 Wallia, which the Romans called Gallia, turning W into G,..yet the Walloon keeps his radical letter to this day. 1724W. Gambold Welsh Gram. (1727) 114 Table of Words and Particles:..shewing what effect They haue on the radical initial Letters of Subsequent Words. 1833Ibid. (ed. 3) 13 After the prefix gor, the initials b, d, g, m, r, assume their Light sound; but after tra the retain their Radical sound; as gorfod,..trablin.
(b)a1653Gouge Comm. Hebr. xi. 11 Sarah hath all the radical letters in it. 1658Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus v. 71 Why the radicall Letters in the Pentateuch should equall the number of the Souldiery of the Tribes. 1762Parkhurst Heb. Gram. (1778) 3 Although the radical Letters..are never Servile, yet the servile letters are very often radical. 1831Lee Hebr. Gram. (1832) 222 One of the two last radical letters of any word, when both are the same, may..be rejected.
†c. Exhibiting the roots or radical letters. Obs.
1623Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Pref. 7 Huterus..in his Catalogue..before his radicall Hebrew Bible.
†6. Astrol. Belonging to the radix of an astrological calculation. radical question (see quot. 1647). Obs.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. i. iv, Any of those radicall promissors in the geniture. 1647Lilly Chr. Astrol. 121 The Question then shall be taken for radicall, or fit to be judged, when as the Lord of the hour at the time of proposing the Question..and the Lord of the Ascendant or first House, are of one Triplicity, or be one. 1654Culpepper Opus Astrol., Aphorisms §69 A Radical Figure resembles either the nativity or the revolution of the nativity of the Querent. 1679Moxon Math. Dict. 38 The moons coming to the..Radical place, where she was at the beginning of the sickness.
7. Mus. Belonging to the root of a chord, esp. radical bass, radical cadence, radical number (cf. quots.).
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Radical numbers..in the Italian music, are, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and sometimes 10, which are often met with in musical compositions, to denote the accords of the thorough basses. 1867Macfarren Harmony iii. 97 According to the radical progression of ascending 4ths. 1873H. C. Banister Music 69 By the root of a chord, or its Radical Bass, is meant its Bass-note in its original, uninverted form.
8. Bot. Of or belonging to the root of a plant; esp. of leaves or stalks: Springing directly from the root-stock or the stem close to the root.
1753Chambers Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Leaf, Radical Leaf, that which grows immediately from the root of a plant, not from the stalk. 1766Museum Rust. VI. 47 From the top of this turnep rise a number of leaves,..which answer to the radical leaves in other plants. 1851Richardson Geol. vii. 203 Leaves..proceeding from the crown or radical plate. 1861Bentley Man. Bot. (1870) 57 On young roots we find cells..which are of the nature of hairs, and have therefore been termed radical hairs.
†9. Chem. radical vinegar, an old name for acetic acid. Obs.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) IV. 592/1 Experience has shown that radical vinegar differs considerably in its properties from the common acid. 1819Pantologia X. s.v., The acid thus obtained..was formerly distinguished by the names of radical vinegar, and vinegar of Venus.
B. n. (elliptical or absolute uses of the adj.)
1. Philol.
a. A root; a word or part of a word which cannot be analysed into simpler elements.
1641Wilkins Mercury xiii. (1707) 57 The Hebrew..Language consists of fewest Radicals. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 284 He [Dalgarno] published a Specimen..containing but 500 Radicals, all the Particles being brought from the Radicals by which they are resolved. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) V. 463 The Welsh, the Cornish and the Armoric dialects, whose radicals are so much alike [etc.]. 1822Good's Study Med. IV. 592 It has been shown, that the real radical is the Hebrew term..(tsora). 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. i. 54 Words derived from the same radical will often assume different forms in different languages.
b. A radical letter (see 5 b above).
1652–62Heylin Cosmogr. Introd. (1674) 8/2 Divers Cities in that tract, which still preserve the Radicals of Hull or Chull. 1724W. Gambold Welsh Gram. (1727) 2 Ch..being a radical, is ever attended with w. 1784Henley Note in Beckford's Vathek (1786) 263 On his forehead the radicals of cafer [or infidel] are said to be impressed. 1870Helfenstein Compar. Gram. Teut. Lang. 410 The radical is either a or ê... The radical of the perfect is of course modified by the reduplication.
c. One of the set of basic Chinese characters (usu. reckoned to number 214) which, occas. in modified form, constitute elements, freq. with semantic significance, in the composition of other characters and are a means by which characters can be classified and arranged in dictionaries. Cf. phonetic n.
[1736R. Brookes tr. Du Halde's Hist. China II. 393 As in Hebrew there are radical letters..so likewise the Chinese have their radical characters; for instance the characters of mountains, of trees,..under which must be sought all that belongs to mountains, trees.] 1824J. Johnson Typographia xii. 368 (heading) Table of the Chinese Radicals. Ibid. 369 Each Radical is placed at the head of a new family of characters. 1834Chinese Repository May 31 The most conspicuous portions of characters were adopted as ‘heads of tribes’, which in Europe have been called keys and radicals... The radicals..rarely have any relation to the sounds of the characters of which they form component parts. 1874[see phonetic n.]. 1907W. Hillier Chinese Lang. i. 4 We..divide Chinese characters into two parts—one, the sound indicator, to which the name ‘phonetic’ is generally given; the other, the idea indicator, which is commonly called the ‘radical’... The radicals are limited in number, there being only 214 of them altogether. 1921New China Review III. 390 The sign..does not figure..as a phonetic but rather as the genuine hieroglyph, to which a classifying radical has been added. 1948R. A. D. Forrest Chinese Lang. ii. 38 After we have deducted the ‘sheep’ device from each of the three examples, the part remaining in each case is known as the ‘radical’, or better, as the ‘signific’. 1973Sci. Amer. Feb. 54/1 A dictionary published in 1971..has merged some radicals, reducing the number to 189. 1978Nagel's Encycl.-Guide: China 88 Character 14 was described as consisting of a phonetic and a radical; the phonetic showed the reader that the word was pronounced in much the same way as ‘door’, and the radical showed that the meaning was linked with ‘ear’.
2. a. A basis, a fundamental thing or principle.
1657Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 357 Covenant-benefits, convenant graces, the radicals, the vitals. 1808Med. Jrnl. XIX. 41 Water doubtless concurs..to produce this effect, by supplying two radicals, which become assimilated to the other nutritive principles. 1833Holland Manuf. in Metal II. 304 With reference to a similar radical, that is to say, the English penny.
b. A root or radicle.
1850McCosh Div. Govt. iii. i. (1874) 292 They are roots or radicals supporting all visible truth, but themselves unseen. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 380 The..radicals of the portal vein.
3. Math.
a. A quantity forming or expressed as a root of another quantity.
1738De Moivre in Phil. Trans. Abridg. VIII. 271 (title) Of the Reduction of Radicals to more Simple Terms. a1746MacLaurin Algebra (1748) xiv. 117 Multiply any two Radicals as 2 xy by 2 xz. 1798Hutton Course Math. II. 298 Expand the radical or fraction..into an infinite series of simple terms. 1868Cayley Math Papers (1874) VII. 14 The expression cannot contain any radical such as [etc.].
b. The radical sign.
1780Hutton in Phil. Trans. LXX. 401 Where the two denominators under the radicals differ by 4. 1882C. Smith Conic Sect. (1885) 33 It is necessary and sufficient that the quantity under the radical should be a perfect square.
4. Chem. An element or atom (simple radical), or a group of these (compound radical), forming the base of a compound and remaining unaltered during the ordinary chemical reactions to which this is liable. (See also radicle.)
Introduced (in French) by G. de Morveau, 1787. When used without adj., ‘radical’ usually denotes a compound radical, and is thus contrasted with ‘element’ or ‘atom’.
1816J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 343 Oxygen is called the radical or base of the gas. 1845G. E. Day tr. Simon's Anim. Chem. I. 141 If we knew more of the composition of the extractive matters, we should doubtless find a radical common to all of them. 1881Nature No. 618. 415 Compounds of hydrogen with elements or radicals like chlorine.
5. Politics. An advocate of ‘radical reform’ (see A. 3 b); one who holds the most advanced views of political reform on democratic lines. In the 19th c., the name was applied to the extreme section of the Liberal party; now gen., an advocate of any thorough political or social change; one who belongs to the extreme section of a political party; a member or supporter of a radical movement (cf. sense A. 3 d), a left-winger or revolutionary. Also transf.
1802in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. VI. 4 The sagacious only could have forseen that he should have become a r—c—l. 1819Scott Let. to T. Scott 16 Oct. in Lockhart, Radical is a word in very bad odour here, being used to denote a set of blackguards [etc.]. 1822J. Q. Adams Diary 16 June in Memoirs J. Q. Adams (1875) VI. iii. 22 General Scott..said Archer was a Radical and inclined to be Jacobinical. 1829Western Monthly Rev. II. 593 The schism in the Methodist Church..exists between the sticklers for the ancient structure of episcopalianism..and the radicals, who seem to be contending for a more democratic form of church government. 1830Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 269 The term Radical once employed as a name of low reproach, has found its way into high places, and is gone forth as the title of a class, who glory in their designation. 1847Semi-Weekly News (Fredericksburgh, Va.) 21 Oct. 2/2 The Barnburners are the progressives, the radicals. 1862O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 129, I suppose the radicals have got enough of Burnside now. 1873H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. xi. 290 It is manifest to the Tory that the Radical does not see the benefit there is in that which he wishes to destroy. 1876San Francisco Daily Examiner 10 Oct. 2/1 The real issue with the Radicals is to divert public attention from the unexemplified corruption of the Radical party during the past eight years. 1888W. H. Dawson German Socialism i. 22 The association was joined by South German Radicals, North German students... All that came of it was an outbreak..at Frankfort on April 3rd, 1833. 1912W. E. Walling Socialism as it Is iii. 35 Whether the radical of to-day, the ‘State Socialist’ favors political democracy or not, depends on whether these ‘passive beneficiaries’ of the new ‘altruistic’ system are in a majority. 1921N. Amer. Rev. Aug. 316 Liberals are merely terror-stricken Radicals. 1938N. M. Butler Family of Nations vi. 86 There are very few radicals who are liberals; radicals are almost without exception advocates of compulsion in some one of its forms. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. iv. 35 Some radical that year [sc. 1923] (they called them anarchists, not communists, then) had taken a pot shot at Léon Daudet. 1946E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh (1947) i. 10 There is a foreign atmosphere about him, the stamp of an alien radical, a strong resemblance to the type Anarchist as portrayed, bomb in hand, in newspaper cartoons. 1950[see sense A. 3 d above]. 1962S. E. Finer Man on Horseback iv. 59 The Egyptian army officers were..right-wing radicals..with motivations much more akin to the Nazi storm-troopers. 1976Guardian 8 Nov. 2/6 Hundreds of police sealed off the red brick social club where the Right-wing radicals gathered. 1977New Yorker 1 Aug. 49/1 A radical—someone who continued to defend the Soviet revolution after other Socialists had turned against it.
fig.1822Cobbett Weekly Reg. 30 Mar. 779 Love is a great leveller; a perfect Radical. 1831E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son xcvii, Gout, apoplexy, dropsy..are in their nature, radicals.
b. ellipt. A white hat, formerly affected by Radicals (in consequence of one having been worn by Henry Hunt at various political meetings in 1820).
1828Lights & Shades I. 294 A whity-brown radical on his head, the edges of which are worn down to the brown-paper foundation. (Cf. radical hat in c.)
Hence ˈradical v. intr., to act like a radical.
1867Carlyle Remin. (1881) II. 219 The notions they seemed ‘reforming’ (and radicalling, and quarrelling with their superiors) upon!
Add:[A.] [3.] g. slang (orig. Surfers'). At or exceeding the limits of control and safety; hence, as an evaluative term: remarkable, outstanding; amazing, ‘far out’, ‘cool’.
1968W. Warwick Surfriding in N.Z. p. iv, Radical, extreme. 1971Times 9 Aug. 5/1 The surf-bums have a language all their own; they talk about..radical turns, [and] boogalooing. 1983W. Safire in N.Y. Times Mag. 8 May 10 What is a current expression of approval? ‘Bold rave, radical and dual are in,’ reports Miller. 1985Dirt Bike Mar. 56/3 Oh sure, I pulled holeshots just about every moto, but the power was just too radical for me to handle, what with my bad shoulder and all. 1985E. Lochhead True Confessions 6 The Young Mothers' Meeting we had there was Really Radical. 1987Boards Mar. 6/1 Conditions were described as ‘radical’ by the 30 or so other sailors who were out, and it was obviously fairly cold. 1988Independent (Mag.) 24 Dec. 10/3 ‘Radical’..no longer has rebellious or left-wing connotations but means..wonderful or remarkable. |