Definition of "radical" []

• Arising from or going to a root or source; basic: proposed a radical solution to the problem. (adjective)
• Departing markedly from the usual or customary; extreme: radical opinions on education. (adjective)
• Favoring or effecting fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions: radical political views. (adjective)
• Linguistics Of or being a root: a radical form. (adjective)
• Botany Arising from the root or its crown: radical leaves. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Pitch must be considered under three heads: first, as referring to the prevailing elevation of tone assumed by the voice in the reading of a whole sentence, passage, or selection, called _general_ or _sentential pitch_; second, as referring to the degree of elevation assumed by the voice in the utterance of the opening, or radical, of any syllable, called _initial_ or _radical pitch_; third, as referring to the tone-width of the intervals in the utterance of the syllable concrete."
• "The word radical comes from the Latin word radis, which means roots."
• "Obama administration, categorically refuse to even use the term "radical Islam" in order to excise the term from the American vernacular."