I was listening to an poetry reading by Richard Wilbur–I suppose all of these are old now. But he had a beautiful poem called “Seed Leaves” which appropriately describes a seed getting leaves. The meat of the poem and its captivation lie in “ramify,” its final word truly used.
There are words that we use and use again without proper context, or with proper context but in mundane misconstruction–that is, the words have become less of themselves through slant use. “Ramifications” is something I am familiar with; but spreading, branching out–these are not definitions I associate with this powerful sense. I am reminded that writing well can mean finding words and new meanings.