Crossword clues for ramification
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ramification \Ram`i*fi*ca"tion\ (r[a^]m`[i^]*f[i^]*k[=a]"sh[u^]n), n. [Cf. F. ramification. See Ramify.]
The process of branching, or the development of branches or offshoots from a stem; also, the mode of their arrangement.
A small branch or offshoot proceeding from a main stock or channel; as, the ramifications of an artery, vein, or nerve.
A division into principal and subordinate classes, heads, or departments; also, one of the subordinate parts; as, the ramifications of a subject or scheme.
The production of branchlike figures.
--Crabb.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1670s, "a branching out," from French ramification, from ramifier (see ramify). Transferred sense of "outgrowth, consequence" first recorded 1755. Related: Ramifications.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context botany anatomy English) 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. 2 An offshoot of a decision, fact etc.; a consequence or implication, especially one which complicates a situation. 3 (context mathematics English) An arrangement of branches.
WordNet
n. the act of branching out or dividing into branches [syn: branching, fork, forking]
a part of a forked or branching shape; "he broke off one of the branches"; "they took the south fork" [syn: branch, fork, leg]
a development that complicates a situation; "the court's decision had many unforeseen ramifications" [syn: complication]
an arrangement of branching parts
Wikipedia
In geometry, ramification is 'branching out', in the way that the square root function, for complex numbers, can be seen to have two branches differing in sign. The term is also used from the opposite perspective (branches coming together) as when a covering map degenerates at a point of a space, with some collapsing together of the fibers of the mapping.
In botany, ramification is the divergence of the stem and limbs of a plant into smaller ones, i.e. trunk into branches, branches into increasingly smaller branches, etc. Gardeners stimulate the process of ramification through pruning, thereby making trees, shrubs and other plants bushier and denser.
Short internodes (the section of stem between nodes, i.e. areas where leaves are produced) help increase ramification in those plants that form branches at these nodes. Long internodes (which may be the result of over-watering, the over-use of fertilizer, or a seasonal "growth spurt") decrease a gardener's ability to induce ramification in a plant.
A high degree of ramification is essential for the creation of topiary as it enables the topiary artist to carve a bush or hedge into a shape with an even surface. Ramification is also essential to practitioners of the art of bonsai as it helps recreate the form and habit of a full-size tree in a small tree grown in a container.
The pruning practices of coppicing and pollarding induce ramification by removing most of a tree's mass above the root. Fruit tree pruning increases the yield of orchards by inducing ramification and thereby creating many vigorous, fruitful branches in the place of a few less-fruitful ones.
Ramification may refer to:
- Ramification (mathematics), a geometric term used for 'branching out', in the way that the square root function, for complex numbers, can be seen to have two branches differing in sign.
- Ramification (botany), the divergence of the stem and limbs of a plant into smaller ones
- Ramification group, filtration of the Galois group of a local field extension
- Ramification theory of valuations, studies the set of extensions of a valuation v of a field K to an extension L of K
- Ramification problem, in philosophy and artificial intelligence, concerned with the indirect consequences of an action.
- Type theory, Ramified Theory of Types by mathematician Bertrand Russell
Usage examples of "ramification".
She it was who taught us not only the way to change dry wood into a suitable pulp, the kind of size to be used, how to waterproof and give the paper strength, but many more marvelous details appertaining to the manufacture of paper which in their ramifications have proved of inestimable benefit and service to the human race.
She remembered her parents discussing the ramifications of the growth of such an exclusionist belief, and the disgust with which her centaur father viewed the segregationist ideology.
The most charitable and upright of men, the two brothers, Louis and Rupert, had built up a business which extended its ramifications into every townlet of four counties.
The ramifications made me grind my teeth -- an ugly sensation ever since Vist had applied his skills to my mouth.
Probably at least in part so that we can spend the time discussing all the ramifications.
For over a year, the provisions and ramifications of the Delmonico Accord had consumed her, waking and sleeping.
At the north, on the contrary, one could follow their ramifications, which died away on the sandy plains.
Fran already fading as the excitement of what lay before him intensified and spread itself out in his mind, exposing to his mental light all the ramifications and historical aspects of his one-man Odyssean undertaking.
And, of course, Giorgio immediately recognized the macroscopic ramifications.
Harry was pondering, gloomily and unproductively, the various ramifications of this problem when a new face appeared in the entrance to the waiting room.
Although economists and oil experts caution that we cannot foresee all of the grievous ramifications of such an event, there is widespread agreement that it would cause a global recession probably on the scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s, if not worse.
There follow enormous ramifications, plots and counterplots, intrigues, triumphs and disasters, ending with the vindication of Robert, and wedding bells.
Englishman was having an insight into the value of fossils that would also have lasting ramifications.
The kauris measured a hundred feet high, before the ramification of the branches.
A country that played the role of a superpower just could not afford to ignore nanotechnological research, since its military ramifications are too important.