A word I learned today that I should have already known

In reading a reported decision today, I came across the verb ramify. For years I’ve known its nominalization, ramification. And I’ve known for some time that any word with the suffix –tion is probably based on a verb. But I never figured out until today that ramification has a verb root, which is ramify.

According to the Free Dictionary, ramify means “[t]o have complicating consequences or outgrowths.” Ramification means  “[a] development or consequence growing out of and sometimes complicating a problem, plan, or statement.” Note that a ramification is not merely an effect; it’s an effect with complications.