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
J. S. Seidman
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
His administration has faced backlash for not doing enough to press Israel to avoid civilian casualties in its military offensive.
—Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 16 Jan. 2025
The Ukrainians are taking casualties, too of course—and struggling to keep their front-line brigades fully manned.
—David Axe, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025
The first question was whether Israel was willing to inflict collateral civilian casualties, and absorb military casualties, at a level that experts thought would be necessary to accomplish its goal.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2025
Moreover, while Ukraine has volunteers and other countries discussing the idea of deploying troops, Russia only has its own troops, as well as North Korean soldiers, who have been experiencing high numbers of casualties.
—Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for casualty 
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Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 16 Jan. 2025
The Ukrainians are taking casualties, too of course—and struggling to keep their front-line brigades fully manned.
—David Axe, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025
The first question was whether Israel was willing to inflict collateral civilian casualties, and absorb military casualties, at a level that experts thought would be necessary to accomplish its goal.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2025
Moreover, while Ukraine has volunteers and other countries discussing the idea of deploying troops, Russia only has its own troops, as well as North Korean soldiers, who have been experiencing high numbers of casualties.
—Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for casualty
Dictionary Entries Near casualty
Cite this Entry
“Casualty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/casualty. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids 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
Internal Revenue Code 2
: something lost, stolen, damaged, or destroyed see also casualty gain at gain, casualty loss at loss
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