casualty

noun

ca·​su·​al·​ty ˈka-zhəl-tē 

ˈkazh-wəl-,

ˈka-zhə-wəl-

plural casualties

1

a

: a military person lost through death, wounds, injury, sickness, internment, or capture or through being missing in action

The army sustained heavy casualties.

b

: a person or thing injured, lost, or destroyed : victim

the ex-senator was a casualty of the last election

2

: serious or fatal accident : disaster

losses from fire, storm, or other casualty

—J. S. Seidman

3

archaic : chance, fortune

losses that befall them by mere casualty

—Sir Walter Raleigh

Synonyms

• fatality
• loss
• prey
• victim

Examples of casualty in a Sentence

a low number of casualties

the real casualties in the war against drugs are millions of innocent children

Recent Examples on the Web

But this time, the number of casualties is much lower. —Wayne Chang, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024

The threat of mass casualties, and of desperate Palestinians trying to flee into Egypt, looms large. —Mairav Zonszein, TIME, 4 Apr. 2024

Officials said the number of casualties could rise in the coming days. —Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 3 Apr. 2024

The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties. —Seyward Darby, Longreads, 3 Apr. 2024

Drafting men starting at age 25, given the likely battle casualties, also risks further diminishing this small generation of Ukrainians and potentially future birthrates, leaving the country with declines of working- and draft-age men decades from now. —Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024

Officials have described this as a mass casualty event. —Lawrence Richard, Fox News, 28 Mar. 2024

The military doesn’t publicize casualty figures, but US estimates suggest more than 300,000 Russians have been killed or injured. —Matthew Chance, CNN, 24 Mar. 2024

Each side lost tens of thousands of fighters — several times the casualties suffered by the United States and Britain in the American Revolution. —Matthew Brown, Washington Post, 24 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

see casual entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Kids Definition

casualty

noun

ca·​su·​al·​ty ˈkazh-əl-tē 

ˈkazh-(ə-)wəl-

plural casualties

1

: a serious or fatal accident : disaster

2

a

: a military person lost (as by death or capture) during warfare

b

: a person or thing injured, lost, or destroyed

Medical Definition

casualty

noun

ca·​su·​al·​ty ˈkazh-əl-tē, ˈkazh-(ə-)wəl- 

plural casualties

1

: a serious or fatal accident

2

: a military person lost through death, wounds, injury, sickness, internment, or capture or through being missing in action

3

a

: injury or death from accident

b

: one injured or killed (as by accident)

Legal Definition

casualty

noun

ca·​su·​al·​ty ˈka-zhəl-tē, ˈka-zhə-wəl- 

plural casualties

1

: an unfortunate occurrence

especially : a serious and often disastrous accident

conversion of property…arising from fire, storm, shipwreck, or other casualty

—Internal Revenue Code

2

: something lost, stolen, damaged, or destroyed see also casualty gain at gain, casualty loss at loss