casualty
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkaʒʊ.əlti/
ipa: /ˈkaʒʊlti/
ipa: /ˈkaʒəlti/
ipa: /ˈkæʒu.əlti/
ipa: /ˈkæʒəlti/
Forms: form: casualties
form: casuality
Etymology: From casual, from Middle French casuel, from Medieval Latin casualitas and Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”). Originally meaning “a chance event” (compare casual, as in “casual encounter”), it developed a negative meaning as “an unfortunate event”, especially the loss of a person.
Senses: examples: 1756, Samuel Johnson, “The Life of Sir Thomas Browne” in Thomas Browne, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, p. xx,
The course of his education was like that of others, such as put him little in the way of extraordinary casualties.
glosses: Something that happens by chance, especially an unfortunate event; an accident, a disaster.
glosses: A person suffering from injuries or who has been killed due to an accident or through an act of violence.
glosses: Specifically, a person who has been killed (not only injured) due to an accident or through an act of violence; a fatality.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A person in military service who becomes unavailable for duty, for any reason (notably death, injury, illness, capture, or desertion).
synonyms: word: A&E
word: accident and emergency
word: ;
word: emergency department
word: emergency room
glosses: Clipping of casualty department: the accident and emergency department of a hospital providing immediate treatment.
glosses: An incidental charge or payment.
examples: text: Among recent casualties is the S.B.B.'s branch from Nyon to Divonne-les-Bains, just across the French frontier, closed to all traffic at the commencement of the winter service.
ref: 1962 December, “Beyond the Channel: Switzerland: Federal aid for three minor lines”, in Modern Railways, page 418:
text: Today, the pocket calculator is a dying product, a casualty of digitization, which has been relegated to the role of a graphic icon on phone and computer screens rather than an object in its own right, but back in the early 1970s, it was at the forefront of consumer technology.
ref: 2012 March 4, Alice Rawsthorn, “Farewell, Pocket Calculator?”, in The New York Times:
glosses: Someone or something adversely affected by a decision, event or situation.
examples: text: The non-necessary [causes] follow; of which, saith Fuchsius, no art can be made, by reason of their uncertainty, casualty, and multitude […]
ref: , NYRB 2001, vol.1, p.327-8
glosses: Chance nature; randomness.
Synonyms: sense: something that happens by chance
word: fortune
word: luck
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: emergency
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: emergency room
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: emergency department
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: emergency ward
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: E. R.
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: E.R.
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: ER
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: casualty department
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: casualty ward
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: accident and emergency
sense: hospital's accident and emergency
word: A&E
Hyponyms: fatality
Derived terms: CASEVAC
casualty department
casualty event
casualty insurance
casualty notification
casualty of superiority
casualty ward
Related terms: casual