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say it: kuh-LAT-ur-uhl
collateral is an adjective and noun meaning "descended from a common ancestor but through different lines". It carries 6 recorded senses.
additional but secondary; auxiliary;
occurring with or following as a consequence
“an excessive growth of bureaucracy, with attendant problems”
“snags incidental to the changeover in management”
“attendant circumstances”
“the period of tension and consequent need for military preparedness”
“the ensuant response to his appeal”
“the resultant savings were considerable”
“collateral target damage from a bombing run”
a security pledged for the repayment of a loan
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for collateral come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.