cas·u·al·ty

[kazh-oo-uhl-tee]
noun, plural cas·u·al·ties.
1.
Military.
a.
a member of the armed forces lost to service through death, wounds, sickness, capture, or because his or her whereabouts or condition cannot be determined.
b.
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.

Origin:
1375–1425; casual + -ty2; replacing late Middle English casuelte, equivalent to casuel (see casual) + -te -ty2

casualty, causality, causation, cause (see synonym study at cause).
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To casualties
00:10
Casualties is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
Collins
World English Dictionary
casualty (ˈkæʒjʊəltɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n , pl -ties
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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

casualty
1423, "chance, accident," from L. casualis (see casual) on model of royalty, penalty, etc. Casuality had some currency 16c.-17c. but is now obsolete. Meaning "losses in numbers from a military or other troop" is from 1494. Meaning an individual so lost is from 1844.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
In the past, a ship full of plague casualties could be turned away from port.
We were not prepared for the many hundreds of casualties.
Two more fires broke out during later missions, though without casualties.
Casualties were expected, and were many, though the fabric accounts often could not name them.
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