ramification
[ram-uh-fi-key-shuh n]
- the act or process of ramifying.
- a branch: ramifications of a nerve.
- a related or derived subject, problem, etc.; outgrowth; consequence; implication: The new tax law proved to have many ramifications unforeseen by the lawmakers.
- Botany.
- a structure formed of branches.
- a configuration of branching parts.
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Origin of ramification
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words for ramification
consequence, upshot, complication, subdivision, extension, division, outgrowth, sequel, partition, radiation, excrescence, branch, offshoot, divarication, breaking, result, branching, bifurcationExamples from the Web for ramification
Historical Examples of ramification
It is not growing strongly, and is as simple as possible in ramification.
Modern Painters, Volume V (of 5)John Ruskin
But in other species the ramification of the apophyses assumes more the form of bifurcation or of irregular branching.
There are sometimes other complications in the ramification of the tube, but these need not detain us.
SpidersCecil Warburton
It led into a ramification of small passages and tunnels underground.
The Matabele CampaignR. S. S. Baden-Powell
We determined to keep up the etiquette of refined life in its every ramification.
Wanted: A CookAlan Dale
ramification
- the act or process of ramifying or branching out
- an offshoot or subdivision
- (often plural) a subsidiary consequence, esp one that complicates
- a structure of branching parts
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for ramification
1670s, "a branching out," from French ramification, from ramifier (see ramify). Transferred sense of "outgrowth, consequence" first recorded 1755. Related: Ramifications.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ramification
(răm′ə-fĭ-kā′shən)- A branching shape or arrangement.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.