casualty

American  

[kazh-oo-uhl-tee] / ˈkæʒ u əl ti /

noun

• casualties
  plural

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.

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casualty British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• casualties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of casualty

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

Explanation

In wartime, you'll hear the word casualty used often for someone killed or injured. But casualty can also refer to deaths or injuries suffered in an accident or some other unfortunate event. The term "casualties of war" has been around for a while and refers to the ugly downside of military victory. Anyone who loses life or limb, either in the fighting or as a civilian, is called a casualty. You can also use this word figuratively: if a local elementary school loses funding for their art classes and after-school activities, you can say that the students are casualties of budget cuts.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

casualty casualties

Airtable, a darling of the software-as-a-service era, has become a casualty of the so-called SaaS-pocalypse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

This summer’s Northern Hemisphere heat wave has been a mass casualty event, on a par with the recent earthquakes in Venezuela.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

The conflict with Iran cut off a key transit route for oil supplies and ignited a new wave of global inflation, but the U.S. economy avoided becoming a major casualty.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

The cinematic denoument revived some measure of hope in a reeling nation, where the official casualty count announced Saturday climbed to 2,954 dead and 16,592 injured, with thousands remaining missing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026

He had routed a force fifty times larger than his own, won the greatest ransom ever seen, and vanquished a cultural tradition that had lasted five millennia—all without suffering a single casualty.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

The resulting civilian casualties led the United Nations to condemn both sides last week.

From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026

Radev did not specify where the drone, which caused no casualties, came from and said authorities did not yet know what type it was.

From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026

The governor reported no casualties in the overnight attack.

From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026

There have been more than 1,330 incidents involving Israeli settlers that resulted in casualties, property damage or both since the start of 2026, according to the U.N.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026

And speaking of cake-related casualties: Martin Addison is sprawled out on the stage with his face in the empty cake box.

From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli

Related Words

• blow
• calamity
• catastrophe
• disaster
• mishap