by-product

American  

[bahy-prod-uhkt] / ˈbaɪˌprɒd əkt /

noun

1. a secondary or incidental product, as in a process of manufacture.

2. the result of another action, often unforeseen or unintended.

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by-product British  

noun

1. a secondary or incidental product of a manufacturing process

2. a side effect

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by-product Scientific  

/ bī′prŏd′əkt /

1. 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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Etymology

Origin of by-product

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

In such an environment, a 3% inflation rate is less a policy failure than an adaptation—the by-product of an economy adjusting to a chronic government deficit and the political impossibility of fiscal consolidation.

From Barron's

“Belief in a novel is, for me, a by-product of a certain kind of sentence,” Smith observes.

From Los Angeles Times

The company said the on-year rise in profitability was due to higher zinc in concentrate sales volumes, a rise in base-metal prices, and by-product revenues combined with significantly lower copper smelter processing charges.

From The Wall Street Journal

The protein trend has been especially driven by the expanded availability of protein from whey, typically a by-product of cheese production.

From BBC

It adds that interference occurs primarily near conflict zones as a by-product of military activity, rather than necessarily being a deliberate act.

From BBC

Related Words

• outgrowth