Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🎯 Not the main focus 🦋 Unintended subject
nontarget

nontarget

6.3
A person or thing not meant to be the target but affected by accident
  • noun
  • /ˈnɒnˌtɑːrɡɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : no objetivo
  • Second, nontarget species and communities tend to occur across multiple ecoregions (usually two to four, but sometimes more).
  • nontarget species
  • nontarget organisms
  • nontarget effects

Examples

  • To protect biodiversity, researchers must assess the risks that certain chemicals pose to nontarget organisms.

  • First, additional habitat for nontarget species and communities would exist outside the reserve design network.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Some of these chemicals may pose a risk for nontarget organisms, especially when applied to vast acreages.

    Academic text (2004)

  • For the coarse-filter concept to work, nontarget species and communities should be sustained at levels above such thresholds.

    Academic text (2005)

  • All herbicides can have negative impacts on nontarget vegetation if they drift from the intended areas either as wind-dispersed particles or as vapors evaporating off the application surface.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Farmers should be mindful of the potential harm to nontarget insects when using pesticides.

  • The study focused on the impact of the treatment on both target and nontarget species in the ecosystem.

How Targeted

nontarget
  • Specialized
6.3
bystander
84 3.4

Surface Forms

nontarget singular
nontargets plural

Morphology

nontarget = target (transparent) = non + target

The word is a straightforward negated form of 'target', with no special semantic shift beyond 'not target'.

Etymology

Nontarget comes from non- 'not' and target 'the thing you aim at', and it names a person, animal, or thing that is not intended but may be affected by accident.