collateral damage

English Thesaurus

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

hypernym	:	casualty, fatal accident,
definition	:	an accident that causes someone to die (noun.event)

domain category	:	armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine,
definition	:	the military forces of a nation (noun.group)

domain usage	:	euphemism,
definition	:	an inoffensive or indirect expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive or too harsh (noun.communication)