What's the converse of “side effect”?

Question

I'm looking for something like side cause, side influence, dark factor. Googled for those but didn't find relevant hits.

Definition: An influence on something that is not explicit, not taken into account, not declared in the specification, maybe unintentional.

And what would be a better word for converse in the title? I know it isn't the right word but still better than opposite.

Your definition sounds like "side effect" to me. Can you clarify how what you are looking for is different from side effect?
As an alternative to converse in the title, how about counterpart? (Brainstorming for comparable terms: opposite, antonym, converse, inverse, counterpart, complement — counterpart seems the most apt to me here.)
@Unreason Urf, of course. Upstream. @PLL I think counterpart is quite apt here.
I like counterpart, too - the trick is that two component terms can have three of them, e.g. for "side effect" we can have "main effect", "side cause" and "main cause"; they all in certain sense mean 'the opposite'. Counterpart somehow suggest to me that it is not a simple opposite (Brainstorming: partial opposite).

Peter Shor · Answer 1 · 2011-05-25 12:23:27Z

up vote 8 down vote

If I understand your question correctly, the term is either contributing cause or contributory cause. I think these two terms are exact synonyms.

answered May 25 '11 at 12:23

Peter Shor
23.1k3285

+1, very nicely fits OPs definition and is common – Unreason May 25 '11 at 12:54

5

+1, very nice. Contributing factor is another alternative, and even more common (Ngrams comparison). – PLL May 25 '11 at 13:03

JeffSahol · Answer 2 · 2011-05-25 16:37:28Z

up vote 1 down vote

With the right modifier, "condition" or "prerequisite" might work: "unstated condition" for example.

answered May 25 '11 at 16:37

JeffSahol
13.3k1651

horatio · Answer 3 · 2011-05-25 17:14:48Z

up vote 0 down vote

Concomitant :

–adjective

accompanying; concurrent

–noun

a concomitant quality, circumstance, or thing.

answered May 25 '11 at 17:14

horatio
2,345413

3 Answers