Radical

radical
adjective1(used of opinions and actions) far beyond the norm; "extremist political views"; "radical opinions on education"; "an ultra conservative"[syn: extremist]2markedly new or introducing radical change; "a revolutionary discovery"; "radical political views"[syn: revolutionary]3arising from or going to the root or source; "a radical flaw in the plan"4of or relating to or constituting a linguistic root; "a radical verb form"5especially of leaves; located at the base of a plant or stem; especially arising directly from the root or rootstock or a root-like stem; "basal placentation"; "radical leaves"[ant: cauline]
noun1(chemistry) two or more atoms bound together as a single unit and forming part of a molecule[syn: group]2an 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; "in the body free radicals are high-energy particles that ricochet wildly and damage cells"[syn: free radical]3a person who has radical ideas or opinions4(mathematics) a quantity expressed as the root of another quantity5a character conveying the lexical meaning of a logogram6(linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem"[syn: root]