epiphenomenalize

verb

To regard as epiphenomenal

Scrabble 34

Meanings

verbepiphenomenalize (third-person singular simple present epiphenomenalizes, present participle epiphenomenalizing, simple past and past participle epiphenomenalized)

present singular third person epiphenomenalizes · participle present epiphenomenalizing · participle past epiphenomenalized · past epiphenomenalized

  1. human sciencesTo regard as epiphenomenal

    To endorse option one is to epiphenomenalize macrophysical objects.

    2007 December 8, Patrick Toner, “Emergent substance”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 141, number 3, →DOI
    2 more examples

    The other venue from which environmental issues have been most explored by those interested in discursive formations—cultural studies—has tended to epiphenomenalize the physical environment by conceiving it as a social construct and thus as a symptomatic register of political or economic power, or as a site of cultural contestation.

    1998, Lawrence Buell, “Toxic Discourse”, in Critical Inquiry, volume 24, number 3, →DOI, pages 640–641

    While conceding with Young (2011) that “it is a mistake to reduce social justice to distribution” (p. 15), Fraser critiques social justice frameworks that conflate issues of maldistribution and misrecognition, epiphenomenalizing either class structure or status order to one another, and rendering it impossible to explore the intersections between them.

    2017, Viviane Josewski, “A “Third Space” for Doing Social Justice Research”, in Marina Morrow, Lorraine Halinka Malcoe, editors, Critical Inquiries for Social Justice in Mental Health, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 72

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁ep-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éps
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₁épi
  4. Proto-Hellenic*epí
  5. Ancient Greekἐπί (epí)
  6. Ancient Greekἐπῐ- (epĭ-)
  7. Englishepi-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*bʰh₂nyéti
  10. Proto-Hellenic*pʰáňňō
  11. Ancient Greekφαίνω (phaínō)
  12. Ancient Greekφαινόμενον (phainómenon)
  13. Late Latinphaenomenon
  14. Englishphenomenon
  15. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  16. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  17. Ancient Greekφαινόμενον (phainómenon)
  18. Frenchphénomène
  19. Frenchphénoména
  20. Englishphenomenal
  21. Englishepiphenomenal
  22. Englishepiphenomenalize

From epiphenomenal + -ize.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

epiphenomenalize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/epiphenomenalize

MLA

“epiphenomenalize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/epiphenomenalize. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “epiphenomenalize,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/epiphenomenalize.

Source: epiphenomenalize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.