Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A secondary or additional product; something produced, as in the course of a process or manufacture, in addition to the principal product or material: as, wood-tar is obtained as a by-product in the destructive distillation of wood for the manufacture of wood-vinegar or wood-spirit.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A secondary or additional product; something produced, as in the course of a manufacture, in addition to the principal product.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A secondary product; something made incidentally during the production of something else.
  • noun A side effect.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a product made during the manufacture of something else
  • noun a secondary and sometimes unexpected consequence
  • noun a product made during the manufacture of something else
  • noun a secondary and sometimes unexpected consequence

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

by(e) + product

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Examples

  • The unity accord is considered a by-product of upheaval throughout the Middle East.

    Fatah-Hamas Setback Joshua Mitnick 2011

  • We all know that the company responsible for this, BP, will do the right thing by cleaning up the Gulf and compensating those whose businesses are ruined by this unfortunate by-product of our right to use fossil fuels until the last gallon of gasoline.

    U.S. battles Gulf oil spill on three fronts 2010

  • Human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena — and this predisposition is a by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry

    Did Christianity Cause the Crash? 2009

  • Their target, later identified as a not yet operational nuclear reactor modeled on the Yongbyon reactor in North Korea—a uranium-fueled reactor that is capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium as a by-product—was destroyed.

    How the End Begins Ron Rosenbaum 2011

  • The key judgment here is not just that it was a nuclear reactor, but that it was the type of reactor designed to produce plutonium as a by-product that could be used to make nuclear bombs.

    How the End Begins Ron Rosenbaum 2011

  • Consumers applied for membership on the Marmarati's website by sharing their acts of Marmite heroism, acts that ranged from the peculiar to the eccentric e.g., an ode to this yeast by-product.

    Playing The Spread 2011

  • Microsilica is a by-product of the production of silicon and ferrosilicon alloys for the IT industry and, as such, does not constitute a big detrimental effect on the environment.

    MIT Discovery Means Next-Gen Concrete Could Last for 16,000 Years | Inhabitat 2009

  • Human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena — and this predisposition is a by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry

    Did Christianity Cause the Crash? 2009

  • A not-so-quiet war is waged daily on Facebook by nearly three-quarters of a million social networkers passionately engaged around the dark brown, salty, 109-year-old British yeast by-product food spread known as Marmite.

    Playing The Spread 2011

  • Happiness comes as a by-product of the “life well lived.”

    The Law of Happiness Dr. Henry Cloud 2011

Comments

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  • an incidental or secondary product made in the making of something else

    August 12, 2009