side effect
side effect noun: an unintended consequence, or secondary result, of any action, in addition to the main or intended consequence of that action.
Noun
side effect (plural side effects)
- An unintended consequence, or secondary result, of any action, in addition to the main or intended consequence of that action.
- The processing of certain raw materials - pulp and paper, oil, and alumina, for example - can have substantial environmental side effects.1987, Brundtland Report
- A side effect of this architecture (which was designed only for efficient fabrication) is that it also performs automated repair.1980, Advanced Automation for Space Missions
- Synonyms:
- by-product
- An unintended consequence of a drug or therapy; usually an adverse effect, and not a beneficial one.
- “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”2018 May 30, Christine Hauser, quoting Sanofi, “Roseanne Barr’s Ambien Defense Is Disputed: ‘Racism Is Not a Known Side Effect’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
- A change a in state outside of the local environment of the function being called.
- The Eiffel programming language is somewhat purist in insisting that functions have no side effects.
side effect meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Arabic and Indonesian
side effect in Hindi
- unintended consequence of any action
- दुष्प्रभाव duṣprabhāv
- medicine: an adverse effect
- दुष्प्रभाव duṣprabhāv
side effect in Tamil
- பக்க விளைவு, பக்கப் பாதிப்பு, துணை விளைவு
side effect in Arabic
- unintended consequence of any action
- أَثَر جَانِبِيّ ʔaṯar jānibiyy
side effect in Indonesian
- unintended consequence of any action
- efek samping
More languagesFewer languages
- side effect in Thai
- ผลข้างเคียง pǒn-kâang-kiiang
Examples of side effect in a sentence
- So you go along for a long time / And nothing seems to worry your mind / But what it adds up to / It's the side effect / That finally gets to you / It's the side effect / That finally gets to you1983, Ashford & Simpson, “Side Effect”, in High-Rise (album):
- A positive side effect is that it may actually help with degenerative joint disease symptoms.2007, Sylvia Escott-Stump, Nutrition and Diagnosis-Related Care:
Synonyms of side effect
Forms of side effect
| plural | side effects |
|---|---|
| alternative form | side-effect |
Words formed from side effect
Questions about side effect
- What does side effect mean?
- Side effect means an unintended consequence, or secondary result, of any action, in addition to the main or intended consequence of that action.
- What is side effect in Hindi?
- Side effect in Hindi is दुष्प्रभाव (duṣprabhāv). See Side effect meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use side effect in a sentence?
- So you go along for a long time / And nothing seems to worry your mind / But what it adds up to / It's the side effect / That finally gets to you / It's the side effect / That finally gets to you
- What part of speech is side effect?
- Side effect is a noun.
- What is the plural of side effect?
- The plural of side effect is side effects.
Words near side effect in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: side effect (page history and authors); side effect (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-side effect.ogg.
Cite this entry: “side effect.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/side_effect. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.