Meaning & use
epiphenomenal
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Meaning
adjectivenot comparabletechnicalspecialist
Existing as a secondary effect that accompanies a process but does not itself cause or influence that process.
Grammar: Used mainly before nouns, as in epiphenomenal feature, or after linking verbs, as in the change is epiphenomenal.
Patterns
- epiphenomenal to something
- purely epiphenomenal
Many philosophers regard conscious experience as epiphenomenal to brain activity.
The report argued that the new regulations were epiphenomenal to the real economic forces at work.
If the effect is epiphenomenal, changing it will not change the underlying process.
Common combinations
- epiphenomenal to
- The committee treated the protests as epiphenomenal to the main political conflict.
- purely epiphenomenal
- The researchers concluded that the correlation was purely epiphenomenal.
- epiphenomenal feature
- The model treats the color of the alert as an epiphenomenal feature.
- epiphenomenal byproduct
- The gas is an epiphenomenal byproduct of the reaction, not a cause of it.
Synonyms and how they differ
- secondary
- Broader and less technical: secondary can mean simply less important, while epiphenomenal specifically denies any causal role.
- incidental
- Focuses on something happening by chance alongside something else; epiphenomenal emphasizes the lack of causal influence.
Opposites
Word family
- epiphenomenon noun
- A secondary effect or byproduct that does not cause the main process.
- epiphenomenally adverb
- In a manner that is secondary and without causal influence.
Commonly confused: epiphenomenal or ephemeral? epiphenomenal or phenomenal?
epiphenomenal vs ephemeral
Ephemeral means lasting a very short time; epiphenomenal means secondary and non-causal, with no suggestion about duration.
epiphenomenal vs phenomenal
Phenomenal usually means extraordinary or remarkable; epiphenomenal is a technical term about a secondary effect.
Practice
The scientists argued that the observed pattern was ______ the underlying mechanism, not a cause of it.
Choose one answer.
The adjective epiphenomenal is followed by to when naming the process it accompanies without influencing. The other prepositions do not fit this established pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “epiphenomenal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.