collateral damage

1. 1.

   (euphemism) inadvertent casualties and destruction inflicted on civilians in the course of military operations

   Broaderfatal accident

   euphemism · military

Questions about collateral damage

What does collateral damage mean?

collateral damage means "(euphemism) inadvertent casualties and destruction inflicted on civilians in the course of military operations".

Is collateral damage a common word?

collateral damage is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.