epiphenomenon

American  

[ep-uh-fuh-nom-uh-non, -nuhn] / ˌɛp ə fəˈnɒm əˌnɒn, -nən /

noun

plural

epiphenomena, epiphenomenons

1. Pathology. a secondary or additional symptom or complication arising during the course of a disease.

2. any secondary phenomenon.

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epiphenomenon British  

/ ˌɛpɪfɪˈnɒmɪnən /

noun

1. a secondary or additional phenomenon; by-product

2. pathol an unexpected or atypical symptom or occurrence during the course of a disease

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Other Word Forms

• epiphenomenal adjective
• epiphenomenally adverb

Etymology

Origin of epiphenomenon

First recorded in 1700–10; epi- + phenomenon

Example Sentences

Physicists, notably Eugene Wigner and John Wheeler, have speculated that consciousness, far from being a mere epiphenomenon of matter, is an essential component of reality.

From Scientific American • Sep. 27, 2021

Life, according to Crick, was an epiphenomenon of physics and chemistry — complex, yes, but still explicable in molecular terms.

From New York Times • Mar. 24, 2021

But if he once struck me as the center point of the show’s ills, he now strikes me as a side effect or epiphenomenon.

From Slate • Jul. 31, 2020

This toxic miasma of bad vibes—of masochistic pleasures—is not, in Lanier’s view, an epiphenomenon of social media, but rather the fuel on which it has been engineered to run.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 19, 2018

Some have even gone further, and the fine and significant name of epiphenomenon, that has been given to thought, well translates that conception, according to which semi-realities may exist in nature.

From The Mind and the Brain Being the Authorised Translation of L'Âme et le Corps by Binet, Alfred