ramification

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French ramification, or its source, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin ramificō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹæmɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
• IPA^(key): /ˌɹæməfəˈkeɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

ramification (countable and uncountable, plural ramifications)

1. (botany, anatomy) A branching-out, the act or result of developing branches; specifically the divergence of the stem and limbs of a plant into smaller ones, or of similar developments in blood vessels, anatomical structures etc.
   • 1829, Lincoln Phelps, Familiar Lectures on Botany, p. 179:

     The character of trees may be studied to advantage […] in winter, when the forms of the ramification can be seen in the naked boughs […]

   • 1856, Neil Arnott & Isaac Hayes, Elements of Physics, pp. 414-5:

     From the left chamber or ventricle of the strong muscular mass, the heart, a large tube arises, called the aorta; and by a continued division or ramification, opens a way for the bright scarlet blood to the very minutest part of the living frame […]

2. An offshoot of a decision, fact etc.; a consequence or implication, especially one which complicates a situation.
   • 1834, Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy:

     The treachery of some of the Jacobite agents (Rashleigh among the rest), and the arrest of others, had made George the First's Government acquainted with the extensive ramifications of a conspiracy long prepared, and which at last exploded prematurely […]

   • 2009, The Guardian, Chris Power, Booksblog, 14 Jul 09:

     But most often and memorably his work falls into that territory best summed up as speculative fiction, with a particular emphasis on dystopian futures and the existential ramifications of space exploration.

3. (mathematics) An arrangement of branches.

Related terms

• ramify

Translations

branching process

• Bulgarian: разклоняване n (razklonjavane), разклонение (bg) n (razklonenie)
• Catalan: ramificació f
• Czech: rozvětvení n
• Dutch: vertakking (nl), uitwaaiering
• Finnish: haarautuminen (fi)
• French: ramification (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Verästelung f, Verzweigung (de) f, Ramifikation f
• Greek: διακλάδωση (el) f (diakládosi)
• Hungarian: elágazás (hu), szétágazás, leágazás, elágasodás, elágazódás
• Icelandic: kvíslun f, greining f
• Russian: разветвле́ние (ru) n (razvetvlénije), ответвле́ние (ru) n (otvetvlénije)
• Spanish: ramificación f
• Turkish: budaklanma, dallanma (tr)

consequence or development complicating a problem

• Catalan: ramificació f
• Finnish: seuraamus (fi), seurannaisvaikutus (fi)
• French: ramification (fr) f
• German: Verwicklung (de) f; (also) Auswirkung (de) f, Folge (de) f, Konsequenz (de) f
• Greek: συνέπεια (el) f (synépeia), επίπτωση (el) f (epíptosi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: következmény (hu), folyomány (hu), velejáró (hu), kihatás (hu), komplikáció
• Italian: ramificazione (it) f
• Russian: после́дствие (ru) n (poslédstvije)
• Spanish: ramificación f

Further reading

• “ramification”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ramification”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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French

Etymology

ramifier +‎ -ification

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.mi.fi.ka.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ramification f (plural ramifications)

1. a (criminal) network, offshoots of an (often clandestine) organization
2. ramification, implication
3. (botany, anatomy) ramification

Further reading

• “ramification”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Middle French

Noun

ramification f (plural ramifications)

1. division into branches
   • 1570, Jean Canappe, Tables anatomiques du corps humain universel: soit de l'homme, ou de la femme page 24

     De laquelle nous donnerons la divarication, cestadire ramification, ou division en ses rameaux, quand nous traicterons du foye.

     From which [from the vein] we get separating out, that is to say ramification, or division into several branches, when we are talking about the liver.

Descendants

• → English: ramification
• French: ramification