Dictionary.com
definitions

ramify

[ram-uh-fahy]
See more synonyms for ramify on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with or without object), ram·i·fied, ram·i·fy·ing.
  1. to divide or spread out into branches or branchlike parts; extend into subdivisions.

Origin of ramify

1535–45; < Middle French ramifier < Medieval Latin rāmificāre, equivalent to Latin rām(us) branch (see ramus) + -ificāre -ify
Related formsmul·ti·ram·i·fied, adjectiveun·ram·i·fied, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for ramify

fork, proliferate, develop, divide, extend, separate, bifurcate, subdivide, enlarge, diverge, increase, spread, part, multiply, diversify, grow, expand

Examples from the Web for ramify

Contemporary Examples of ramify

Historical Examples of ramify

  • Philip knew these relatives well: they ramify, if need be, all over the peninsula.

  • The bazaars form the heart of the town, and ramify in various directions.

    Tent Work in Palestine

    Claude Reignier Conder

  • It is also vascular and the veins which ramify it have a plexiform or net-work like arrangement.

    The Mystery of Space

    Robert T. Browne

  • The nature of the thing is to ramify beyond human calculation.

  • When I'd got my local ground perfectly covered, I'd begin to ramify.

    A Modern Instance

    William Dean Howells

British Dictionary definitions for ramify

ramify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied
  1. to divide into branches or branchlike parts
  2. (intr) to develop complicating consequences; become complex

Word Origin for ramify

C16: from French ramifier, from Latin rāmus branch + facere to make
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 ramify
v.

early 15c., "branch out," from Middle French ramifier (early 14c.), from Medieval Latin ramificare "to form branches," from Latin ramus "branch" (see ramus) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Related: Ramified; ramifying.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ramify in Medicine

ramify

[răm′ə-fī′]
v.
  1. To branch.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.