collateral damage
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.64 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
16
Letters
6
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Damage to civilian property or civilian casualties that is the unintended result of military operations.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "A certain amount of collateral damage and destruction to the surrounding environment has always been viewed as a necessary but generally undesirable by-product of military conflict."
- "But the most critical tension concerns the need to balance minimal own-casualties and low collateral damage with operational effectiveness."
- "And, most importantly, there may come a point when, by taking measures to improve the security of the attacking force, the increase in the expected collateral damage outweighs the anticipated military advantage."
- "What is missing from this line of reasoning, however, is a frank assessment of the collateral damage caused by supply-side efforts and whether this harm outweighs the unproven positive impact of current programs, which is likely to be marginal at best."
- "Neoliberals readily admit that economic liberalization causes some dislocations, but they view such collateral damage as necessary for the longer term gains of increased productivity and efficiency."
- "Merely the existence of collateral damage – whether in war or in a managerial situation - is symptomatic to me of misdirected power and synonymous with a failing in the exercise of power."