aftershocks

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

   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
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