Definition of "ramification" [ram•i•fi•ca•tion]

• A development or consequence growing out of and sometimes complicating a problem, plan, or statement: the ramifications of a court decision. (noun)
• The act or process of branching out or dividing into branches. (noun)
• A subordinate part extending from a main body; a branch. (noun)
• An arrangement of branches or branching parts. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And at least for now, the ramification is that they will never get to read the entire book."
• "One such ramification is the importation of “books” per se."
• "I've already put forward proposals for infrastructure, which I think can have a huge long-term ramification -- putting people back to work right now, doing the work that America needs done, laying the foundation for long-term competitiveness."