casualty

[kazh-oo-uhl-tee]

noun

plural

casualties 

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

Unfortunately, the giant garter snake is becoming a casualty of California’s brutal cycle of droughts and habitat destruction — as much of the Central Valley converts to agriculture or infrastructure development, according to the U.S.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the aftershock.

Read more on Barron's

Footage aired on Al Jazeera showed Palestinian casualties being taken on stretchers in ambulances Saturday morning.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Lake Superior’s first known commercial casualty, in 1816, was a schooner with a name that suggests hubris: the Invincible.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Online communication has already caused its first casualty among traditional postal services: Denmark recently ended its letter deliveries service, PostNord.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• blow 
• calamity 
• catastrophe 
• disaster 
• mishap