Word
casualty
Meanings
a person killed or injured in an accident, disaster, or conflict
someone or something that is harmed or lost as an unintended result of an action or event
Definition
A casualty is a person who is killed or injured in an accident, disaster, or conflict.
A casualty is someone who is hurt or killed because of a sudden harmful event such as a crash, fire, natural disaster, or war. The word is often used in news reports and official statements to talk about numbers of people affected. It can also refer more generally to anything that suffers loss or damage as an unintended result.
Examples
- According to the spokesperson, the casualty count rose after the storm reached the coast overnight.
- I heard the report and hoped there had been no casualty in the factory fire.
- She scanned the list of names, searching for any casualty from her unit.
- They treated every casualty with the same urgency, regardless of how chaotic the scene became.
Common mistake
Learners sometimes confuse casualty with cause (e.g., saying “the casualty of the accident” instead of “the cause of the accident”).
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