ramify
verb
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How Ramify Branched Off Latin
Ramify has been part of English since the 15th century and is an offshoot of the Latin word for "branch," which is ramus. English acquired several scientific words from ramus, including biramous ("having two branches"). Another English word derived from ramus is the now obsolete ramage, meaning "untamed" or "wild." Ramage originated in falconry—it was initially used of young hawks that had begun to fly from branch to branch in trees. The most common ramus word, though, is a direct descendant of ramify. Ramification in its oldest sense means "branch, offshoot," but is most commonly used to mean "consequence, outgrowth." Ramify started out as a scientific word, at first referring to branching parts of plants and trees and later to veins and nerves, but it soon branched out into non-scientific and even figurative uses, as in "ideas that ramify throughout society."
Examples of ramify in a Sentence
Scott Patterson, Fortune, 13 June 2023
The theme ramified in a couple of directions, including Alabama’s death row.
—al, 21 Feb. 2023
During Silkie’s tenure in our household, he was frequently held, extravagantly complimented, and housed in a twin set of terraria connected by an ever-ramifying system of bendable plastic tubes and kitted out with an exercise wheel and a lookout tower.
—Anne Fadiman, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Feb. 2023
As with king cakes – and Mardi Gras in general – the madness tends to ramify.
—al, 19 Jan. 2023
For an object that is fundamentally a box, designed to keep things inside it, the shipping container is a remarkable lesson in the uncontainable nature of modern life—the way our choices, like our goods, ramify around the world.
—Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 30 May 2022
The outcome of the Kings River conflict will ramify throughout the Central Valley and the state.
—Susie Cagle, Wired, 12 Apr. 2022
But in complex technological systems, small mistakes may rapidly ramify and compound into large problems.
—Naomi Oreskes, Scientific American, 16 Aug. 2021
But as the forking paths continue to ramify, Truth is to be found not in one place, but everywhere.
—Hari Kunzru, Harpers Magazine, 5 Jan. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Ramify.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ramify. Accessed 22 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
ramify
verb
Medical Definition
ramify
intransitive verb
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