"unintended consequence" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Popularized by sociologist Robert K. Merton.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "unintended consequences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "unanticipated consequence",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "unforeseen consequence",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "unintended consequence (plural unintended consequences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sociology",
          "orig": "en:Sociology",
          "parents": [
            "Social sciences",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 May 4, Bret Stephens, “Facebook’s Unintended Consequence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Over the past several years we’ve learned a lot about the unintended consequences of social media. Platforms intended to bring us closer together make us angrier and more isolated.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An outcome of a purposeful action that is not intended or foreseen."
      ],
      "id": "en-unintended_consequence-en-noun-UcXgMcjB",
      "links": [
        [
          "sociology",
          "sociology"
        ],
        [
          "outcome",
          "outcome"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally sociology, in the plural) An outcome of a purposeful action that is not intended or foreseen."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "collateral damage"
        },
        {
          "word": "side effect"
        },
        {
          "word": "you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "in-plural"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Robert K. Merton"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "unintended consequence"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Popularized by sociologist Robert K. Merton.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "unintended consequences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "unanticipated consequence",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "unforeseen consequence",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "unintended consequence (plural unintended consequences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "collateral damage"
    },
    {
      "word": "side effect"
    },
    {
      "word": "you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Sociology"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 May 4, Bret Stephens, “Facebook’s Unintended Consequence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Over the past several years we’ve learned a lot about the unintended consequences of social media. Platforms intended to bring us closer together make us angrier and more isolated.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An outcome of a purposeful action that is not intended or foreseen."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sociology",
          "sociology"
        ],
        [
          "outcome",
          "outcome"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(originally sociology, in the plural) An outcome of a purposeful action that is not intended or foreseen."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "in-plural"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Robert K. Merton"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "unintended consequence"
}