casualty Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun someone injured or killed or captured or missing in a military engagement
  2. noun someone injured or killed in an accident
    injured party.
  3. noun an accident that causes someone to die
    fatal accident.
  4. noun a decrease of military personnel or equipment

WordNet

Cas"u*al*ty noun
Etymology
F. casualité, LL. casualitas.
Wordforms
plural Casualties
Definitions
  1. That which comes without design or without being foreseen; contingency.
    Losses that befall them by mere casualty. Sir W. Raleigh.
  2. Any injury of the body from accident; hence, death, or other misfortune, occasioned by an accident; as, an unhappy casualty.
  3. pl. (Mil. & Naval) Numerical loss caused by death, wounds, discharge, or desertion. Syn. -- Accident; contingency; fortuity; misfortune.

Webster 1913