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Ramification vs Onerous - What's the difference?

ramification | onerous |

As a noun ramification

is 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.

As an adjective onerous is

imposing or constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort.

ramification

Noun

(en noun)
  • (botany, anatomy) 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.
  • * 1829 , Lincoln Phelps, Familiar Lectures on Botany , p. 179:
  • The character of trees may be studied to advantage [...] in winter, when the forms of the ramification can be seen in the naked boughs [...].
  • * 1856 , Neil Arnott & Isaac Hayes, Elements of Physics , pp. 414-5:
  • From the left chamber or ventricle'' of the strong muscular mass, the ''heart'', a large tube arises, called the ''aorta ; and by a continued division or ramification , opens a way for the bright scarlet blood to the very minutest part of the living frame [...].
  • An offshoot of a decision, fact etc.; a consequence or implication, especially one which complicates a situation.
  • * 1834 , Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy :
  • The treachery of some of the Jacobite agents (Rashleigh among the rest), and the arrest of others, had made George the First's Government acquainted with the extensive ramifications of a conspiracy long prepared, and which at last exploded prematurely [...].
  • * 2009 , The Guardian , Chris Power, Booksblog, 14 Jul 09:
  • But most often and memorably his work falls into that territory best summed up as speculative fiction, with a particular emphasis on dystopian futures and the existential ramifications of space exploration.
  • (mathematics) An arrangement of branches.
  • onerous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • imposing]] or [[constitute, constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort.
  • * 1820 , , "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow":
  • That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden, and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable.
  • * 1848 , , Shirley , ch. 13:
  • Again, and more intensely than ever, she desired a fixed occupation,—no matter how onerous , how irksome.
  • * 1910 , , "The Golden Poppy" in Revolution and Other Essays :
  • [I]t has become an onerous duty, a wearisome and distasteful task.

    Synonyms

    * (burdensome) demanding, difficult, taxing, wearing

    Derived terms

    * onerously