collateral damage

noun

Definition of collateral damagenext
as in fatality

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of collateral damage The report said the school was the intended point of impact, and the resulting damage wasn't the result of an errant strike or collateral damage from an attack on a compound of Iran's Revolutionary Guard next to the school. — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 18 Sep. 2026 What’s at issue is collateral damage, a term that came into use during the Vietnam War to obscure, through abstraction, that masses of civilians were being systematically blown to pieces. — Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026 The memo says nothing about what happens when private corporations cause collateral damage to those third parties, or who will be responsible for it. — Jill Goldenziel, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2026 Soon, her relationship with her daughter’s father, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, became collateral damage to her struggles. — Lisa Respers France, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for collateral damage
Recent Examples of Synonyms for collateral damage
  1. fatality
  2. sacrifice
  3. victim
  4. casualty
  5. prey
  6. loss
  7. martyr
Noun
  • In addition to the two fatalities, several people were injured that day.
    — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026
  • The four are the only fatalities whose identities have been confirmed so far.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of fatality
Noun
  • Training to become a top-tier classical dancer demands discipline and sacrifice anywhere.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 Sep. 2026
  • While her brother is torn between his sister and power, a devastating secret will reveal that neither resistance nor sacrifice is enough to stop oblivion.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of sacrifice
Noun
  • The victim reported that four teenagers stole their necklace and fled the scene, according to police.
    — Camryn Dadey, Sacbee.com, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The drama turns on a young woman, victim of spike drinking at a lavish New Year’s Eve party in a remote manor.
    — Annika Pham, Variety, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of victim
Noun
  • The country, which was already losing too many troops, began incurring casualties that seemed unsustainable.
    — Dmytro Kuleba, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2026
  • The congregants did not know that a man police say was driven by hatred had allegedly arrived with weapons and the capacity to cause mass casualties.
    — Ariella Noveck, FOXNews.com, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of casualty
Noun
  • Chances of encountering a shark in Southern California are higher in October, when warmer coastal waters attract both prey and juvenile sharks.
    — Bonny Chu, FOXNews.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • To give the episodes shape, each is broken up into several mini-narratives, such as a mother cheetah learning to adapt her hunting style to mountainous rocky terrain in order to catch prey for her hungry cubs.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of prey
Noun
  • The devastating loss of the coast has opened up the path for a change in the Saudis’ intolerance for dissent within the anti-Houthi coalition, however.
    — Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 4 Oct. 2026
  • The rite symbolizes the deceased's final departure from the world of the living and helps the family come to terms with the loss.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of loss
Noun
  • The 100th annual festival celebrates the life of San Gennaro, who was the Bishop of Benevento, Italy, and a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church.
    — Alexa Herrera, CBS News, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Today, millions more people know about his stance on this issue and, thanks to Kraft, many see him as a martyr for a cause.
    — Sean Woods, Rolling Stone, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of martyr

Browse Nearby Words

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collateral damage
collateral damages
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Cite this Entry

“Collateral damage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/collateral%20damage. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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