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

Investors in Aschenbrenner’s funds were not the only casualty of July’s volatility.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026

But in the past half century of mergers and consolidations, it was briefly a casualty, shuttering in 1985.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Whatever the specific causes of death, this was a mass casualty event, on par with the earthquakes that hit Venezuela a few weeks ago.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

Thousands of forgotten soldiers from pre-partition India who served and died in World War One are finally being recognised in the biggest update to casualty records in more than 80 years.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

The bust had extracted a terrible toll, and the list of people and institutions that had been destroyed read like a horrible casualty list.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

Chinese state media has said there are significant casualties, while Nepalese officials anticipate "huge scale loss".

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

Rescue operations are still in the early stages in both countries and officials expect casualties could be significantly higher given the reported damage to bridges, hydropower plants and roads.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Zelensky held a call with UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday, updating him on Russian strikes and the civilian casualties they have caused, the Ukrainian leader said on X.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

It’s truly a tragedy when families become casualties of things that, in the long run, may not matter nearly as much as the people involved.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

As a result, they’ve secured block after block with very few casualties.

From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

Related Words

• blow
• calamity
• catastrophe
• disaster
• mishap