BRANCH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does branch mean? 

• BRANCH (noun)
  The noun BRANCH has 6 senses:

1. a division of some larger or more complex organization

2. a division of a stem, or secondary stem arising from the main stem of a plant

3. a part of a forked or branching shape

4. a natural consequence of development

5. a stream or river connected to a larger one

6. any projection that is thought to resemble a human arm

  Familiarity information: BRANCH used as a noun is common.

• BRANCH (verb)
  The verb BRANCH has 2 senses:

1. grow and send out branches or branch-like structures

2. divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork

  Familiarity information: BRANCH used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BRANCH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A division of some larger or more complex organization

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

arm; branch; subdivision

Context example:

the Germanic branch of Indo-European languages

Hypernyms ("branch" is a kind of...):

division (an administrative unit in government or business)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "branch"):

executive branch; Executive Office of the President (the branch of the United States government that is responsible for carrying out the laws)

legislative branch (the branch of the United States government that has the power of legislating)

judicial branch (the branch of the United States government responsible for the administration of justice)

local post office; post office (a local branch where postal services are available)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A division of a stem, or secondary stem arising from the main stem of a plant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("branch" is a kind of...):

stalk; stem (a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ)

Meronyms (parts of "branch"):

bark (tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "branch"):

branchlet; sprig; twig (a small branch or division of a branch (especially a terminal division); usually applied to branches of the current or preceding year)

limb; tree branch (any of the main branches arising from the trunk or a bough of a tree)

deadwood (a branch or a part of a tree that is dead)

Derivation:

branchy (having many branches)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A part of a forked or branching shape

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

branch; leg; ramification

Context example:

he broke off one of the branches

Hypernyms ("branch" is a kind of...):

subfigure (a figure that is a part of another figure)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "branch"):

bifurcation (a bifurcating branch (one or both of them))

brachium ((biology) a branching or armlike part of an animal)

crotch; fork (the region of the angle formed by the junction of two branches)

Holonyms ("branch" is a part of...):

forking; furcation (the place where something divides into branches)

Derivation:

branch (divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork)

branchy (having many branches)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A natural consequence of development

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

branch; offset; offshoot; outgrowth

Hypernyms ("branch" is a kind of...):

consequence; effect; event; issue; outcome; result; upshot (a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A stream or river connected to a larger one

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("branch" is a kind of...):

stream; watercourse (a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "branch"):

billabong (a branch of a river made by water flowing from the main stream only when the water level is high)

distributary (a branch of a river that flows away from the main stream and does not rejoin it)

affluent; confluent; feeder; tributary (a branch that flows into the main stream)

Derivation:

branch (divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Any projection that is thought to resemble a human arm

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

arm; branch; limb

Context example:

a branch of the sewer

Hypernyms ("branch" is a kind of...):

projection (any structure that branches out from a central support)

• BRANCH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they branch    ... he / she / it branches   
Past simple: branched   
Past participle: branched   
-ing form: branching   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Grow and send out branches or branch-like structures

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

branch; ramify

Context example:

these plants ramify early and get to be very large

Hypernyms (to "branch" is one way to...):

grow (become larger, greater, or bigger; expand or gain)

Verb group:

branch; fork; furcate; ramify; separate (divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

branch; fork; furcate; ramify; separate

Context example:

The road forks

Hypernyms (to "branch" is one way to...):

diverge (move or draw apart)

Verb group:

branch; ramify (grow and send out branches or branch-like structures)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "branch"):

arborise; arborize (branch out like trees)

twig (branch out in a twiglike manner)

bifurcate (divide into two branches)

trifurcate (divide into three)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Also:

branch out (vary in order to spread risk or to expand)

Derivation:

branch (a stream or river connected to a larger one)

branch (a part of a forked or branching shape)

 Context examples 

The key, Goulbourne said, is that the model connects geometry to mechanics in an intricate way, paving the way for a new branch of mechanics.

(Saddle-shaped origami enables new microelectronic applications, National Science Foundation)

The polymerization of actin to drive cell movement also involves branching of actin filaments into a network oriented with the growing ends of the fibers near the cell membrane.

(Actin Branching Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

There are vast seas several hundred miles across and up to several hundred feet deep, fed by branching, river-like channels.

(The Mysterious 'Lakes' on Saturn's Moon Titan, NASA)

“The development of decellularized plants for scaffolding opens up the potential for a new branch of science that investigates the mimicry between plant and animal.”

(Human Heart Cells Grown on Spinach Leaves, VOA News)

For example, it stunted the growth and branching of cell extensions and reduced the number of spines on these extensions, which are needed to relay chemical signals from neighboring cells into electrical impulses.

(Schizophrenia risk gene linked to cognitive deficits in mice, National Institutes of Health)

The bees actually moved wood chips to access his mushroom’s mycelium, the branching fibers of fungus that look like cobwebs.

(Mushroom Extract Could Help Save Bees from Virus, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Spruce twigs are an important winter food for snowshoe hares; when the hares can get at them, these herbivores may nibble every branch in sight.

(Race across the tundra: White spruce vs. snowshoe hare, National Science Foundation)

The branching channels appear dark in radar images, much like Titan's methane-rich seas.

(Cassini Finds Flooded Canyons on Titan, NASA)

This protein is involved in the modulation of both actin polymerization and formation of branching actin structures.

(Actin-Related Protein 2/3 Complex Subunit 1B, NCI Thesaurus)

The area between the lungs; it contains the thymus, some lymph nodes, and vessels and branches of the internal thoracic artery.

(Anterior mediastinum, NCI Thesaurus)