collateral damage
nounDefinition of collateral damage
: injury inflicted on something other than an intended target
specifically
: civilian casualties of a military operation
Examples of collateral damage in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Our relationship was collateral damage to the split between her father and me. — Washington Post, "When I lost his daughter in the breakup, it hurt more than I expected," 2 Sep. 2019 Others may have been forcibly relocated to cities in other countries or have become collateral damage in military offensives in the region. — Nadia Murad, Twin Cities, "Nadia Murad: The genocide against the Yazidi continues," 4 Aug. 2019 President Donald Trump’s tariffs against China are making South Korea increasingly concerned about the collateral damage to its own exporters, which sell huge volumes of parts and components that go into China’s final products. — Jiyeun Lee, Bloomberg.com, "South Korea Worries It Will Be a Victim of China-U.S. Trade War," 4 Apr. 2018 Throwing away science was the collateral damage of my newfound commitment to listening to my own gut instincts. — Janie Oyakawa As Told To Korin Miller, SELF, "I Used to Be An Anti-Vaxxer. Here’s What Changed My Mind.," 26 Aug. 2019 The wildlife service says that while non-target species will be affected, robust mitigation efforts will keep collateral damage to a minimum. — Rosanna Xia, latimes.com, "Plan to dump rat poison on Farallon Islands questioned by California Coastal Commission," 10 July 2019 Leave it to the USTA to float a nonsense proposal that has already brought collateral damage to the best American player of all-time. — Jon Wertheim, SI.com, "Mailbag: Seven Reasons Why Mid-Match Coaching is a Terrible Idea," 19 June 2019 Ortiz’s father, Leo, speaking to reporters outside the clinic, said his son was out of danger and that there wasn’t any collateral damage, meaning there was no damage to major organs. — Rob Carr / Getty Images, San Diego Union-Tribune, "David Ortiz, former Red Sox star, stable after Dominican Republic ambush shooting," 10 June 2019 Perhaps the people to feel most sorry for in this arm-wrestling between the world’s two most powerful countries are the Europeans and the Japanese, who might end up as collateral damage. — Los Angeles Times, "Column: A yuan-dollar currency war would do some serious damage," 5 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'collateral damage.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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