noun
secondary cause; subsidiary factor
Technical term used in analysis, medicine, or formal reasoning to refer to a contributing but not primary cause. Not an everyday word.
この病気の副因としてストレスが考えられる。
Stress is considered a secondary cause of this illness.
事故の主因は整備不良だが、副因として天候も挙げられる。
The primary cause of the accident was poor maintenance, but weather can be cited as a subsidiary factor.