casualty

[ kazh-oo-uhl-tee ]

noun

, plural cas·u·al·ties.

1. Military.
   1. a member of the armed forces lost to service through death, wounds, sickness, capture, or because their whereabouts or condition cannot be determined.
   2. casualties, loss in numerical strength through any cause, as death, wounds, sickness, capture, or desertion.
2. one who is injured or killed in an accident:

   There were no casualties in the traffic accident.

3. any person, group, thing, etc., that is harmed or destroyed as a result of some act or event:

   Their house was a casualty of the fire.

4. a serious accident, especially one involving bodily injury or death.

casualty

/ ˈkæʒjʊəltɪ /

noun

1. a serviceman who is killed, wounded, captured, or missing as a result of enemy action
2. a person who is injured or killed in an accident
3. a hospital department in which victims of accidents, violence, etc, are treated
4. anything that is lost, damaged, or destroyed as the result of an accident, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of casualty¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; casual + -ty ²; replacing late Middle English casuelte, equivalent to casuel ( casual ) + -te -ty ²

Example Sentences

He said the ICC was "falsely" accusing them "of deliberately targeting civilians, this when we do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties".

From BBC

Palestinian casualty figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

From Los Angeles Times

How much more evidence do we need that women and people of color want to be treated like makers, not casualties, of the American story?

From Salon

A fire caused by fallen debris from one of the missiles was quickly extinguished and there were no casualties, it said.

From BBC

There are no details of casualties yet but state media said "several students and adults were injured and fell to the ground".

From BBC

Related Words

• blow
• calamity
• catastrophe
• disaster
• mishap