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.

---

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

---

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

The unexplained, silent changing of casualty statistics - for both the wounded and the dead - was criticised as undermining transparency.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

They circulated inflated casualty figures in an open letter to Pope John Paul II and others.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 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

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

Naomi managed the day with no worse casualty than a few stern looks from her teachers when she stifled a yawn in class.

From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez

The Egyptian cabinet said the fire at Damietta Port, which houses a key liquefied natural gas hub, had been brought under control with no casualties reported.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

"Human casualties, building collapses, road damage, fires... have been confirmed so far," Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on X, adding there were also "water and power outages".

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

An isolated home was destroyed but no casualties have been reported, state official Sophie Brocas said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

The total number of U.S. deaths since the war began in February now stands at 18, alongside nearly a hundred casualties, per reporting from the New York Times.

From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026

Johnson told viewers that the North Vietnamese attacks had been fought off, with no American casualties.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

• blow
• calamity
• catastrophe
• disaster
• mishap