epiphenomenon

American  

[ep-uh-fuh-nom-uh-non, -nuhn] / ˌɛp ə fəˈnɒm əˌnɒn, -nən /

noun

plural

epiphenomena, epiphenomenons

1. Pathology. a secondary or additional symptom or complication arising during the course of a disease.

2. any secondary phenomenon.

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epiphenomenon British  

/ ˌɛpɪfɪˈnɒmɪnən /

noun

1. a secondary or additional phenomenon; by-product

2. pathol an unexpected or atypical symptom or occurrence during the course of a disease

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Other Word Forms

• epiphenomenal adjective
• epiphenomenally adverb

Etymology

Origin of epiphenomenon

First recorded in 1700–10; epi- + phenomenon

Example Sentences

Physicists, notably Eugene Wigner and John Wheeler, have speculated that consciousness, far from being a mere epiphenomenon of matter, is an essential component of reality.

From Scientific American • Sep. 27, 2021

I confess to a certain discomfort in arguing that conscious deliberation is strictly an epiphenomenon that plays no role in our decision-making.

From Salon • May 30, 2021

Life, according to Crick, was an epiphenomenon of physics and chemistry — complex, yes, but still explicable in molecular terms.

From New York Times • Mar. 24, 2021

This toxic miasma of bad vibes—of masochistic pleasures—is not, in Lanier’s view, an epiphenomenon of social media, but rather the fuel on which it has been engineered to run.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 19, 2018

There is here an arc or loop of unbroken physical causation; and there is no "room" for consciousness, save as an "epiphenomenon," as postulated by Huxley.

From The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal by Carrington, Hereward