Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A secondary phenomenon that results from and accompanies another.
  • noun An additional condition or symptom in the course of a disease, not necessarily connected with the disease.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In pathology, a symptom or complication arising during the course of a malady.
  • noun A phenomenon which is secondary to another or others; a phenomenon which is a sort of by-product in no wise affecting other phenomena.
  • noun Specifically In psychol. theory, a collateral product of a given set of conditions; a phenomenon which accompanies the effect of a given cause, but which itself has no place in the chain of cause and effect.
  • noun In neurology, a supererogatory phenomenon; something added after the plan of the work is complete.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun medicine A symptom that develops during the course of a disease that is not connected to the disease.
  • noun philosophy, psychology A mental state or process that is an incidental byproduct of physiological events in the brain or nervous system.
  • noun Any state, process, or other activity that is the result of another.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a secondary phenomenon that is a by-product of another phenomenon

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

epi- +‎ phenomenon

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Examples

  • Global equilibrium and order at each level of a CAS emerges as what systems theorists call an "epiphenomenon" -- organization that is not predictable from knowing only the rules of the next lower level.

    Analog Science Fiction and Fact 2004

  • This is closely related to the epiphenominalism theory of mind that it is an evolutionary accident emerging from the increasing complexity of brains as an "epiphenomenon" or side effect of neural complexity.

    Coordinated Evolution 2007

  • If consciousness were a mere "epiphenomenon," having no "use" to the organism, it would soon perish (if it ever appeared) according to the law which says that all useless functions perish.

    The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal Hereward Carrington 1919

  • The term "epiphenomenon" has been adopted to express the distinctness but entire dependence of the mind.

    The Approach to Philosophy Ralph Barton Perry 1916

  • Therefore he reasoned that "epiphenomenon" had been built up to accommodate some modern theory of thought, some new leprosy of the mind never dreamed of by the noble lexicographer.

    The Jessica Letters: An Editor's Romance Paul Elmer More 1900

  • The current market fizzle is an epiphenomenon this time around.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Collapse 2009

  • This was to take the angry-idiot shouting of TV, which is epiphenomenon, and make it phenomenon.

    S&P Introduces the Edsel Jr. Holman W. Jenkins 2011

  • Subjective experience, especially spiritual, was presumed at that time to be an epiphenomenon—a secondary phenomenon of little importance.

    The Sacred Promise Phd Gary E. Schwartz 2011

  • Spirituality is often presumed to be an epiphenomenon or side effect of the brain and our need for hope, even if the hope is delusional.

    The Sacred Promise Phd Gary E. Schwartz 2011

  • Subjective experience, especially spiritual, was presumed at that time to be an epiphenomenon—a secondary phenomenon of little importance.

    The Sacred Promise Phd Gary E. Schwartz 2011

Comments

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  • A secondary phenomenon that results from and accompanies another.

    November 12, 2021