collateral damage
noun
: injury inflicted on something other than an intended target
specifically
: civilian casualties of a military operation
Examples of collateral damage in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The introduction of direct payments from schools to athletes in 2025 will mark another revolutionary change, and collateral damage from the combined upheaval has the potential to affect every key stakeholder of the sport.
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Scott Dochterman, The Athletic, 31 Dec. 2024
The New York for All Act is a crucial first step in protecting immigrant communities from becoming collateral damage in Trump’s deportation agenda.
—Murad Awawdeh, New York Daily News, 16 Dec. 2024
Even better, the researchers at GreenLight Biosciences combed through bioinformatic databases to find just the right gene to disrupt to avoid collateral damage to honeybees and other harmless species.
—Andrew Rosenblum, Popular Science, 26 Dec. 2024
But there’s a surprising amount of collateral damage here, too.
—Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 24 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for collateral damage 
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Scott Dochterman, The Athletic, 31 Dec. 2024
The New York for All Act is a crucial first step in protecting immigrant communities from becoming collateral damage in Trump’s deportation agenda.
—Murad Awawdeh, New York Daily News, 16 Dec. 2024
Even better, the researchers at GreenLight Biosciences combed through bioinformatic databases to find just the right gene to disrupt to avoid collateral damage to honeybees and other harmless species.
—Andrew Rosenblum, Popular Science, 26 Dec. 2024
But there’s a surprising amount of collateral damage here, too.
—Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 24 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for collateral damage
Dictionary Entries Near collateral damage
Cite this Entry
“Collateral damage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collateral%20damage. Accessed 11 Jan. 2025.
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