Epiphenomenon
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An activity, process, or state that is the result of another; a by-product, a consequence.
"Yet I would suggest that philosophical and even medical curiosity are only epiphenomenons of another condition that brought deafness to cultural attention."
- 2 a secondary phenomenon that is a by-product of another phenomenon wordnet
- 3 A mental process or state that is an incidental by-product of physiological events in the brain or nervous system.
"It is a necessary corollary of the view here advanced that in instinct as such consciousness is a mere epiphenomenon—a by-product, with no bearing whatever on the performance of the activity in so far as it is instinctive."
- 4 A symptom that develops during the course of a disease that is not connected to the disease.
"EPIPHÆNOMENA, […] Signs in Diſeaſes which appear afterwards."
Example
More examples"Consciousness is not an epiphenomenon of matter. Rather, the matter is an epiphenomenon of consciousness."
Etymology
PIE word *h₁epi From epi- (prefix meaning ‘above, on, over; in addition to’) + phenomenon. Phenomenon is derived from Late Latin phaenomenon (“appearance”), from Ancient Greek φαινόμενον (phainómenon, “thing that appears in one’s view; appearance; phenomenon”), a noun use of the neuter singular form of φαινόμενος (phainómenos), the present middle or passive participle of φαίνω (phaínō, “to cause to appear; to reveal, show, uncover; to expound”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to glow with light, to shine”).
Related phrases
More for "epiphenomenon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.