collateral damage

See synonyms for collateral damage on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the killing of civilians in a military attack.

  2. any damage incidental to an activity.

Origin of collateral damage

1
First recorded in 1985–90

Words Nearby collateral damage

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How to use collateral damage in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for collateral damage

collateral damage

noun
  1. military unintentional damage to civil property and civilian casualties, caused by military operations

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