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Definition
complications that result from an initial action — typically unintended consequencesMuch more rarely, ramification can reference the act of branching out; or part or all of branching parts.
- the court's decision had many unforeseen ramifications
- Does anyone see negative ramifications if we implement this suggestion?
- This was the ultimate belief on which all the systems elaborated by human thought in almost all their ramifications rested.Leo Tolstoy -- Anna Karenina
- He considered the ramifications before reaching into his pocket for his cell phone.Nicholas Sparks -- The Best of Me
- Holabird was as much bewildered as Tubbs would have been by the ramifications of Martin's work.Sinclair Lewis -- Arrowsmith
- In all its ramifications, my darling.Robert Ludlum -- The Bourne Identity
- In an instant they all knew the ramifications.Dave Eggers -- The Circle
- How could I have told you anything about a transcontinental railroad, unless you knew all the details and ramifications?Ayn Rand -- Atlas Shrugged
- My mind raced with the ramifications.James Patterson -- 1st to Die
- JFK's commitment has far-reaching ramifications.Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard -- Killing Kennedy
- In the ramifications of party doctrine she had not the faintest interest.George Orwell -- 1984
- These pains appeared to flash along well defined lines of ramification and to beat with an inconceivably rapid periodicity.Ambrose Bierce -- An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
- These strange customs had ramifications, some of which I had still shied away from.Robert A. Heinlein -- Glory Road
- These ramifications of pipes with their hundred elbows imitated those old leafless vine-stocks which writhe over the fronts of old farm-houses.Victor Hugo -- Les Miserables
- 'I don't know the ramifications of this operation, but I can obviously piece together several basic objectives, especially one.Robert Ludlum -- The Bourne Supremacy
- Judge, what are the legal ramifications?Tom Clancy -- The Hunt for Red October
- Granted, a dream with some pretty crazy ramifications, but just a dream.Ted Dekker -- Black: The Birth of Evil
- The ramifications of the ceremony were dawning on Dill, and he fought hard for the role.Harper Lee -- Go Set a Watchman
- What in the world is this about, I'm wondering, afraid to even consider the ramifications of something like this.Melody Carlson -- Becoming Me
- My temporary pyramid insanity, clearly, had serious and far-flung ramifications.Sarah Dessen -- Dreamland