casualty

casualty
/kazh"ooh euhl tee/, n., pl. casualties.
1. Mil.
a. a member of the armed forces lost to service through death, wounds, sickness, capture, or because his or her whereabouts or condition cannot be determined.
b. 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, esp. one involving bodily injury or death.
[1375-1425; CASUAL + -TY2; r. late ME casuelte, equiv. to casuel (see CASUAL) + -te -TY2]

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • casualty — ca·su·al·ty / ka zhəl tē, ka zhə wəl / n pl ties 1: an unfortunate occurrence; esp: a serious and often disastrous accident conversion of property...arising from fire, storm, shipwreck, or other casualty Internal Revenue Code 2: something lost,… …   Law dictionary

  • casualty — cas‧u‧al‧ty [ˈkæʒuəlti] noun casualties PLURALFORM [countable] 1. a person, project, or company that suffers very badly or goes out of business as a result of something: • The airline is the latest casualty of the recession. • The marketing… …   Financial and business terms

  • Casualty — may refer to:*Casualty (person), a person who is killed or injured in a war or disaster * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as a casualty department (chiefly British) *Casualty (TV series), the world s longest running emergency… …   Wikipedia

  • Casualty — Cas u*al*ty, n.; pl. {Casualties}. [F. casualit[ e], LL. casualitas.] 1. That which comes without design or without being foreseen; contingency. [1913 Webster] Losses that befall them by mere casualty. Sir W. Raleigh. [1913 Webster] 2. Any injury …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • casualty — [n1] accident blow, calamity, catastrophe, chance, contingency, debacle, disaster, misadventure, misfortune, mishap; concept 674 casualty [n2] victim dead, death toll, fatality, injured, killed, loss, missing, prey, sufferer, wounded; concepts… …   New thesaurus

  • casualty — (n.) early 15c., chance, accident; incidental charge, from L. casualis (see CASUAL (Cf. casual)) on model of royalty, penalty, etc. Casuality had some currency 16c. 17c. but is now obsolete. Meaning losses in numbers from a military or other… …   Etymology dictionary

  • casualty — *accident, mishap Analogous words: *disaster, calamity, catastrophe, cataclysm: *misfortune, mischance, mishap …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • casualty — The main current meaning is now ‘a person killed or injured in a war or accident’. The historically earlier meaning of the mishap itself is less common, although the two are sometimes interwoven, e.g. All wars have caused casualties among… …   Modern English usage

  • casualty — ► NOUN (pl. casualties) 1) a person killed or injured in a war or accident. 2) a person or thing badly affected by an event or situation: the firm was one of the casualties of the recession. ORIGIN originally in the sense «a chance occurrence»:… …   English terms dictionary

  • casualty — [kazh′o͞o əl tē] n. pl. casualties [ME & OFr casuelte < ML casualitas: see CASUAL] 1. an accident, esp. a fatal one 2. Mil. a) a member of the armed forces who is lost to active service through being killed, wounded, captured, interned, sick,… …   English World dictionary

  • casualty — noun 1 person killed/injured in a war/an accident ADJECTIVE ▪ heavy, high, serious ▪ light, low ▪ pedestrian, road (both BrE) …   Collocations dictionary

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