branch

branch — noun

1. a long woody part coming from the trunk or a thick stem of a tree

1.nounB1
Definition

a long woody part coming from the trunk or a thick stem of a tree

Example

A heavy apple bent the branch low over the fence.

Two sparrows landed on a thin branch above the pond.

on a branch

Common collocations
  • tree branch
  • dead branch
  • low branch
Synonyms
  • limb

    often for a large branch, especially in careful description

  • bough

    literary or poetic, often for a large tree branch

  • twig

    much smaller and thinner than a branch

Grammar Patterns

a branch of + tree

on a branch

Usage Note

A branch is thicker than a twig and usually grows directly from the trunk or from another large branch. In everyday speech, this is the most common concrete sense of the word.

2. one place in a town where a larger company or group works or serves customers

2.nounB1
Definition

one place in a town where a larger company or group works or serves customers

Example

The bank opened a new branch near the night market.

common noun pair: bank branch

Diego works at the Kaohsiung branch of an insurance company.

Common collocations
  • bank branch
  • local branch
  • branch manager
Synonyms
  • office

    general and widely used for a place where staff work

  • outlet

    used more for shops or businesses serving customers

  • location

    neutral business term for one place in a chain

Grammar Patterns

a branch in + place

the [city] branch of + company

Usage Note

This sense is about the physical office, shop, or service point in a particular place. Distinguish from sense 3, which is about an internal division and not necessarily a building people visit.

Common Mistakes

She works in the sales branch on Minsheng Road.
She works at the sales office on Minsheng Road.
A street location points to the local office sense, not the abstract department sense.

3. a division inside a large organization or government, each with its own job

3.nounB2
Definition

a division inside a large organization or government, each with its own job

Example

The finance branch checks every payment for the school lunch program.

Rashida joined the health branch of the city government.

branch of + government body

Common collocations
  • branch of government
  • finance branch
  • military branch
Synonyms
  • division

    broad term for a separate unit inside an organization

  • department

    often more official and common in schools, companies, and government

  • arm

    emphasizes function or power, especially in politics or business

Grammar Patterns

a branch of + organization

branch of government

Usage Note

Use this sense for the functional unit inside a large body. Distinguish from sense 2, which names the local place where that company or organization operates.

Common Mistakes

I visited the tax branch downtown.
I visited the tax office downtown.
Sense 3 names the unit itself; a place you go to is usually sense 2 or simply 'office'.

4. one of the main parts of a subject, or a smaller group inside a language family

4.nounB2
Definition

one of the main parts of a subject, or a smaller group inside a language family

Example

Marine biology is one branch of science taught at this college.

branch of + subject area

Professor Lin studies a branch of history about trade routes.

Common collocations
  • branch of science
  • branch of history
  • branch of a language family
Synonyms
  • subfield

    usually for a smaller area within a subject

  • division

    broader and more general than branch

  • subgroup

    better for language classification than for school subjects

Grammar Patterns

a branch of + subject

a branch of + language family

Usage Note

Usually followed by 'of': a branch of physics, a branch of history, a branch of Indo-European. Distinguish from sense 3, which is about an organizational unit rather than a field of study.

Common Mistakes

Physics is a branch from science.
Physics is a branch of science.
This noun is normally followed by 'of', not 'from'.

5. a smaller river, road, rail line, or similar route that separates from the main

5.nounB2
Definition

a smaller river, road, rail line, or similar route that separates from the main one

Example

A narrow branch of the river runs behind the village.

branch of + river

Near the bridge, the main road has a branch to the airport.

has a branch to + place

Common collocations
  • branch of the river
  • branch off the main road
  • branch line
Synonyms
  • tributary

    used for rivers and streams, not for roads or railways

  • side road

    everyday term for roads only

  • spur

    often for a short side route or rail line

Grammar Patterns

a branch of + river/road/railway

Usage Note

Often used for lines or routes that leave a main line. With rivers, a close synonym is 'tributary'; with roads and railways, it suggests a side line rather than the main route.

6. one line of a family that comes from the same earlier relatives

6.nounB2
Definition

one line of a family that comes from the same earlier relatives

Example

Only one branch of the Chen family still lives here.

branch of + family

The photo album follows a branch of the Kaur family back five generations.

Common collocations
  • branch of the family
  • distant branch
  • younger branch
Synonyms
  • line

    shorter and less image-based than branch

  • lineage

    more formal and often used for ancestry over a long period

  • house

    used especially for important royal or noble families

Grammar Patterns

a branch of + family

Usage Note

This sense often appears with family names or words like 'family', 'house', and 'line'. It is about relatives, not about offices or departments.

7. one of the small nerves or blood vessels that split off from a main one

7.nounC1
Definition

one of the small nerves or blood vessels that split off from a main one

Example

The scan showed a branch of the nerve near her jaw.

branch of + nerve

Doctors repaired a tiny branch of the damaged artery.

Common collocations
  • branch of a nerve
  • branch of an artery
  • branch of a blood vessel
Synonyms
  • division

    more general and less visual than branch

  • offshoot

    general word; not especially medical

Grammar Patterns

a branch of + nerve

a branch of + artery/blood vessel

Usage Note

Common in medical writing. The image is the same as a tree branch: one main line gives rise to smaller lines.

Idioms

root and branch

idiom

It means to do something completely, affecting every part of something.

The company decided to reform its policies root and branch.

Did the committee reject the proposal root and branch?

branch — verb

Word family

  • branched
    adjectiveC1
  • branching
    nounC1
  • branchless
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These words all name parts of a tree, but they point to different sizes and styles of description. 'Branch' is the normal everyday word for a woody part growing from the trunk or from a larger branch. 'Limb' often suggests a big, heavy branch, especially when talking about damage or shape. 'Bough' is more literary and is common in songs, poems, and nature writing. 'Twig' is much smaller and thinner than a branch, often easy to break by hand. So you can sit under a branch, cut off a limb after a storm, describe birds in the boughs, and snap a twig on the path.

branch ↗limb ↗boughtwig

Common collocations

Nouns

  • main branch

Phrases

  • one branch of something
  • branch off from the main line

Prepositions

  • branch of
  • branch from
  • branch into

Etymology

Late LatinOld FrenchEnglish

English got 'branch' from Old French 'branche', first used for a limb or shoot of a tree. That form goes back to Late Latin 'branca', probably meaning a paw or claw. From the picture of something growing out from a main stem, English later widened the word to other kinds of divisions, such as family lines, roads, subjects, and parts of organizations.