Meaning & use
legal ramifications
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Meaning
nounusually pluralformal
The complicated legal consequences, often unexpected, that follow from an action, decision or event.
Grammar: Used in the plural, usually with of or for: the legal ramifications of the merger.
Patterns
- the legal ramifications of something
- legal ramifications for someone
Before you sign the lease, ask a lawyer about the legal ramifications of ending it early.
The company failed to consider the legal ramifications of storing customer data abroad.
Moving the business to another state could have serious legal ramifications for the owners.
Word forms
| singular | legal ramification |
|---|
Common combinations
- consider the legal ramifications
- Please consider the legal ramifications before you publish the story.
- serious legal ramifications
- Ignoring the safety rules could have serious legal ramifications.
- far-reaching legal ramifications
- The court's ruling has far-reaching legal ramifications for small landlords.
- explore the legal ramifications
- The panel will explore the legal ramifications of the new privacy law.
- potential legal ramifications
- Staff were warned about the potential legal ramifications of leaking the report.
Synonyms and how they differ
- legal consequences
- Legal consequences is plainer and more direct, while ramifications suggests a web of knock-on effects that may not be obvious at first.
- legal implications
- Implications stresses what an action suggests or leads to in law, whereas ramifications often sounds more serious and branching.
- legal repercussions
- Repercussions usually points to unwelcome results, while ramifications can be neutral about whether the effects are good or bad.
Word family
- ramification noun
- a consequence, especially one that is complicated or unexpected
- ramify verb
- to branch out or split into parts
- legal adjective
- connected with or allowed by the law
- legally adverb
- in a way that follows or concerns the law
Commonly confused: legal ramifications or legal implications?
legal ramifications vs legal implications
Implications are what something suggests or leads to, and the phrase is slightly milder. Ramifications are the further, branching results, often more serious.
Practice
The lawyer warned them about the ___ of breaking the contract.
Choose one answer.
The noun is normally plural here and needs the adjective legal. Legal ramification is singular and sounds odd after the, and legally is an adverb, not an adjective.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “legal ramifications”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.