root and branch

• root-and-branch

From the Bible.[1] Used as a title for the Root and Branch petition presented to the Long Parliament on December 11, 1640.

root and branch (not comparable)

1. Total, thorough, sweeping, complete, radical, drastic.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:total

   • 1921, Lytton Strachey, Queen Victoria‎:

     When, in 1872, Sir Charles Dilke once more returned to the charge in the House of Commons, introducing a motion for a full enquiry into the Queen's expenditure with a view to a root and branch reform of the Civil List, […]

   • 2022 October 27, Damian Carrington, quoting Inger Andersen, “Climate crisis: UN finds ‘no credible pathway to 1.5C in place’”, in The Guardian‎:

     We had our chance to make incremental changes, but that time is over. Only a root-and-branch transformation of our economies and societies can save us from accelerating climate disaster.

root and branch (not comparable)

1. Totally, completely.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:completely

   • 1876, Anthony Trollope, chapter LV, in The Prime Minister. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Chapman & Hall, […], OCLC 3643400:

     "I can't help coming, sir," continued Mrs. Parker. "Where am I to go if I don't come? Mr. Lopez, sir, has ruined us root and branch,—root and branch."

   • 1905 April, Jack London, “(please specify the page)”, in War of the Classes, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 1003113:

     And far be it from me to deny that socialism is a menace. It is its purpose to wipe out, root and branch, all capitalistic institutions of present-day society.

• root-and-brancher

• top-to-bottom