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 Los Angeles County supervisors at their Tuesday board meeting appeared pleased with Viera Rosa’s efforts to root out problematic officers. —

Alene Tchekmedyian, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2024 Israel seized the Rafah crossing with Egypt last week as part of an assault on the city aimed at rooting out Hamas militants after a Hamas attack last October killed almost 1,200 Israeli civilians and security forces, according to Israeli government figures. —

Jane Arraf, NPR, 13 May 2024 Still, Netanyahu has pledged to go into Rafah in order to root out the Hamas terrorist group. —

Mary Bruce, ABC News, 6 May 2024 President Joe Biden again urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as Israel on Monday appeared to be moving closer to an offensive to root out Hamas militants. —

Zeke Miller, Fortune, 6 May 2024 But maybe the situation becomes worse, with ongoing civilian casualties in Gaza as Israel seeks to root out Hamas. —

Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 May 2024 While the Rafah operation looms, complex negotiations are unfolding in Cairo and may slow the pace of Israel’s efforts to root out Hamas terrorists in the city populated with more than a million Palestinians. —

Benjamin Weinthal, Fox News, 5 May 2024 Later that day, police officers stormed the building through a second-floor window and rooted out the protesters, making more than 100 arrests. —

Erin Nolan, New York Times, 4 May 2024 The protests have come at a particularly fearful time in Rafah, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel vowing to launch a ground invasion of the city to root out Hamas battalions there despite glimmers of hope for a temporary cease-fire. —

Hiba Yazbek, New York Times, 1 May 2024

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.