a)when non-military people are hurt or killed, or non-military property is damaged, as a result of actions in a war – used especially by the army, navy etc 附带性的破坏〔尤为军队等所用〕,波及无辜
Hitting any non-military targets would risk ‘collateral damage’.
攻击任何非军事目标都有可能殃及无辜。
nb)unintended harm that happens to people as a result of something that is done
Examples from the Corpus
collateral damage• Our helplessness, outrage and fear were not collateral damage.• It could also be that collateral damage from a programcrash has changed the setting.• This collateral damage to otherwise healthybits of tooth may in the end have to be dealt with itself.