ramify

[ ram-uh-fahy ]

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.

ramify

/ ˈræmɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to divide into branches or branchlike parts
2. intr to develop complicating consequences; become complex

Other Words From

• multi·rami·fied adjective
• un·rami·fied adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ramify¹

1535–45; < Middle French ramifier < Medieval Latin rāmificāre, equivalent to Latin rām ( us ) branch ( ramus ) + -ificāre -ify

Word History and Origins

Origin of ramify¹

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

Example Sentences

By insisting on a pluralistic regime, they then drive a relentlessly ramifying scene of social complexity.

From Salon

Despite his conflation of terms, Butler’s history is an indispensable account of a revolution in acting that ramified beyond the theater, even as he vacillates on whether the Method ever truly “died.”

From Los Angeles Times

“Historical inquiries are ramifying in a hundred directions at once, and there is no coordination among them,” Bernard Bailyn, one of the nation’s most esteemed historians, wrote a few years earlier.

From New York Times

But in complex technological systems, small mistakes may rapidly ramify and compound into large problems.

From Scientific American

Faleiro has a talent for ramifying plots and slippery characters — for a narrative that resists easy formulation.

From New York Times