Nearby Words

ramify

[ram-uh-fahy] Example Sentences Origin

ram·i·fy

[ram-uh-fahy]
verb (used with object), verb (used without object), -fied, -fy·ing.
to divide or spread out into branches or branchlike parts; extend into subdivisions.

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

mul·ti·ram·i·fied, adjective
un·ram·i·fied, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To ramify

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Ramify is one of our favorite verbs.
So is fletcherise. Does it mean:
to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.
to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.
Example Sentences
  • They required focus, because if you were distracted for a minute, you would mess up and your error would ramify into the world.
  • Obviously this takes a while to ramify through to parity of representation at the highest levels of scholarship.
Collins
World English Dictionary
ramify (ˈræmɪˌfaɪ)
 
vb , -fies, -fying, -fied
1.  to divide into branches or branchlike parts
2.  (intr) to develop complicating consequences; become complex
 
[C16: from French ramifier, from Latin rāmus branch + facere to make]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

ramify
1540s, "branch out," from M.Fr. ramifier (early 14c.), from M.L. ramificare, from L. ramus "branch" (related to radix "root;" see radish) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

ramify ram·i·fy (rām'ə-fī')
v. ram·i·fied, ram·i·fy·ing, ram·i·fies
To branch.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature