Dictionary

ramify en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹæm.ɪ.faɪ/ (UK, US)
• (US) audio
• /ˈɹæm.ə.faɪ/ (UK, US)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ramifier, from Medieval Latin ramificō (“to branch, ramify”), from Latin rāmus (“a branch”) + -ficō (causative suffix).

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive) To divide into branches or subdivisions.
   • The cortical, hemispheral or superficial veins ramify on the surface of the brain and return the blood from the cortical substance into the venous sinuses. 1893, Henry Morris, Human Anatomy, page 648:
2. (figuratively) To spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories.
   • And, of course, on such momentous occasions as these, Manning was in his element. None knew those difficult ropes better than he; none used them with a more serviceable and yet discreet alacrity. In every juncture he had the right word, or the right silence; his influence ramified in all directions, from the Pope's audience chamber to the English Cabinet. 1918 May 9, Lytton Strachey, “[Cardinal Manning.] Chapter VII”, in Eminent Victorians: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Arnold, General Gordon (Library of English Literature; LEL 11347), London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 89:
   • My point here is that the field within which such determination takes place is not bounded to constitute a single discipline, a single academic elite, a single language domain, a single culture, a single historical period, but that that field ramifies out so as to encompass, ultimately, the entire history of the whole of humankind. 2003, Wim van Binsbergen, Intercultural Encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, page 285:
   • to ramify an art, subject, scheme

Forms

Deriveds

multiramified · ramifiable · unramified · ramifiability

Relateds

ramiform · ramification

Synonyms

branch (divide into branches)

Translations (31)

cs rozvětvovat se (to divide into branches) · hu szétágazik (to divide into branches) · ru разветвляться (to divide into branches) · de ramifizieren (to divide into branches) · is kvíslast (to divide into branches) · hu elágazik (to divide into branches) · cs rozdělovat se ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories) · ru разделяться (to divide into branches) · uk розгалу́зитися (to divide into branches) · es diversificar ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories) · ru ответвляться ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories) · cs rozvětvovat ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories) · cs rozvětvit se ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories) · de verzweigen (to divide into branches) · bg разклонявам (to divide into branches) · de verästeln (to divide into branches) · es ramificar (to divide into branches) · fi laajeta ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories) · ru ответвляться (to divide into branches) · fi haarautua (to divide into branches) · ru ветвиться (to divide into branches) · cs rozvětvit se (to divide into branches) · cs rozvětvovat (to divide into branches) · cs rozvětvovat se ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories) · ru разделяться ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories) · cs rozdělovat ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories) · is greinast (to divide into branches) · cs rozvětvit (to divide into branches) · uk розгалу́жуватися (to divide into branches) · pt ramificar (to divide into branches) · cs rozvětvit ((figuratively) to spread or diversify into multiple fields or categories)