rooting out
Digging up thoroughly
Rooting out is the process of finding and eliminating something unwanted or hidden.
The image is of pulling a plant up by its roots so it can't grow back.
You root out corruption, root out inefficiency, root out spies embedded in an organization: The new director spent her first year rooting out waste and redundancy.
- hunt downPursue until captured
- eradicateDestroy completely, utterly
- eliminateRemove completely
- ferretingSearching out tenaciously
- purgeEliminate unwanted elements
exterminate · extirpate · dislodging · expunge · sift through · uncovering · digging up dirt · detection · exposing · excavating · expulsion · obliteration · investigating · extraction · weeding · cleansing · deep cleaning · sniffing
- eliminatingeliminating, eradicating, exterminating, abolishing, annihilating
- searchingsearching, rummaging, digging, looking through, finding
- eliminationremoval, exclusion, eradication, obliteration, expulsion
rooting outpapering over
Concealing flaws temporarily
patching up · glossing over · quick fix · covering up · half-measures
rooting outplanting
Placing seeds in earth
implanting · establishing · introducing · embedding · instilling
rooting outconcealing
Keeping something secret
hiding · burying · covering up · suppressing · obscuring
root, out, roots, rooted, uproot, rooting, root out, uprooting, uprooted