aftershock

Noun

aftershock (countable and uncountable, plural aftershocks)

1. An earthquake that follows in the same vicinity as another, usually larger, earthquake (the "mainshock").
   • It was not a peace that brought joy – it was one that created an oppressive tension like the calm between a major earthquake and the aftershock.2011, Raymond Gordon, The Ecclesiastical Chronicles, Volume Two: The Society, →ISBN, page 278
   • As aftershocks of 3.0 magnitude or higher continued to rock the area, rescuers transported over 50,000 people from the hardest-hit Luding county, according to local media2022 September 6, “China earthquake death toll jumps to 65 as aftershocks rattle Sichuan”, in EFE, archived from the original on 06 Sep 2022

   Synonyms:

   afterquake

2. (figuratively) By extension, any result or consequence following a major event.
   • The collapse of the financial market sixty days later was the aftershock.2011, Jeremy Rifkin, The Third Industrial Revolution, →ISBN
   • Set in the 1950s, Badlands looks back to that period of malaise in American culture which was defined by the aftershock of world war, the fears engendered by the Cold War, and the questioning of both cultural and individual identity.2012, Hannah Patterson, The Cinema of Terrence Malick, →ISBN, page 26
3. Emotional and physical distress following a traumatic event.
   • Far from being an emotional aftershock following an event that upsets our whole world, horror is what first discloses to us the upsetting possibility that our world as a whole can cease to be.1992, Jerome A. Miller, In the Throe of Wonder, →ISBN, page 129
   • Aftershock is my own term for post-traumatic reactions experienced by activists.2007, Pattrice Jones, Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World, →ISBN