secondary effect
Unintended resulting outcome
A secondary effect is a consequence that follows from an initial action or change, rather than being the direct result.
If a factory closes, unemployment is the primary effect; declining local businesses that depended on workers' spending is a secondary effect.
The term appears in medicine, policy analysis, and environmental studies where chains of causation matter: The drug's secondary effects included fatigue and nausea.
Often interchangeable with side effect, though secondary effect emphasizes sequence rather than unintendedness.
- aftereffectDelayed secondary consequence
- rippleMinor surface disturbance
- consequenceResult of an action
- unintended consequenceUnexpected outcome of action
- falloutPost-blast atmospheric particles
repercussion · domino · cascade · chain reaction · unintended · spillover · blowback · collateral · collateral damage · downstream · down the line · indirect · reaction · chain · butterfly · reverberation · complication · byproduct
- consequencesconsequence, consequences, result, results, outcome
second, secondly, secondarily, effect, effects, effective, effectively, effectiveness, ineffective