side effect
A 'side effect' is an unintended outcome that accompanies the primary effect of an action, often discussed in medicine and programming.
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Definition
B2General
(common)An unintended secondary result of an action or event.
Example
- One side effect of the new policy was increased employee satisfaction.
B2Medicine
(technical, medical)An unintended effect of a drug or treatment, often adverse.
Example
- The medication helped with her pain but had the side effect of making her drowsy.
C1Programming
(technical)A change in state outside the local environment of the function being called.
Example
- Modifying a global variable inside a function is considered a side effect in programming.
Similar
Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "side effect":