by-product

[ bahy-prod-uhkt ]

See synonyms for by-product on Thesaurus.com

noun

a secondary or incidental product, as in a process of manufacture.
the result of another action, often unforeseen or unintended.

Origin of by-product

First recorded in 1900–05

Words Nearby by-product

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use by-product in a sentence

What if violence against women is not a by-product of war, but rather a major cause of it?
The Hidden Link Between Women and War | Leith Greenslade | December 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Like dead wrestlers, this is a natural by-product of the sport itself.
The MMA Fighters Have Gone Crazy: ‘Mayhem’ Miller the Latest in a Long Line of Psycho Pugilists | Robert Silverman | October 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The proliferation of zany burger toppings came next as an inevitable by-product of the high-end burger fad.
Have We Reached ‘Peak Burger’? The Crazy Fetishization of Our Most Basic Comfort Food | Brandon Presser | July 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
But those long wait times are not necessarily a by-product of their single-payer system.
Fact-Checking Suzanne Somers’s Claim That Obamacare is a Socialist Ponzi Scheme | Brandy Zadrozny | October 30, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
The by-product of a choice to live in public; to put your information online.
The Internet Shouldn’t Own You | Eric Klinker | October 10, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

The carbonic acid used is (p. 142) a by-product, hitherto wasted, from the fermenting tuns of breweries.
Yachting Vol. 2 | Various.
This negative, this suppressing character of attention is not a chance by-product, it is most essential.
Psychotherapy | Hugo Mnsterberg
It seems to be a by-product of the Gospel that nobody wants to contribute to the maintenance of the Gospel ministry.
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians | Martin Luther
Curiously enough, it came as an unexpected by-product of a further experiment in protection, the Payne-Aldrich tariff.
The Canadian Dominion | Oscar D. Skelton
For some reason altogether beyond our conception—and man may have been a mere accident, a by-product evolved in the process.
The Poison Belt | Arthur Conan Doyle

British Dictionary definitions for by-product

by-product

noun

a secondary or incidental product of a manufacturing process
a side effect

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for by-product

by-product

[ bī′prŏd′əkt ]

Something produced in the process of making something else. When plants produce carbohydrates by photosynthesis, oxygen is released as a by-product. Asphalt and paraffin are by-products of the process of refining crude oil into gasoline.

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