cas ‧ u ‧ al /ˈkæʒuəl/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: casuel , from Late Latin casualis , from Latin casus ; ⇨ ↑ case 1 ]
1 . RELAXED relaxed and not worried, or seeming not to care about something:
a casual manner
His eyes were angry, though he sounded casual.
Marsha was quite casual about appearing on TV.
She had a casual attitude to life.
2 . NOT FORMAL not formal or not for a formal situation OPP formal :
Jean felt more comfortable in casual clothes.
a casual jacket
3 . WORK employed as a temporary worker or working for only a short period of time:
casual labour
staff employed on a casual basis
Chris has occasional casual work but mostly he is unemployed.
4 . RELATIONSHIP knowing someone or having sex with someone without wanting a close relationship with them OPP serious :
She will never be more than a casual acquaintance.
They had been conducting a casual affair for years.
John just wanted casual sex.
5 . WITHOUT ATTENTION without any serious interest or attention:
He gave us a casual glance as he walked by, but didn’t stop.
To the casual observer (=to someone who is not looking carefully) Mary seemed quite calm.
6 . NOT PLANNED [only before noun] happening by chance without being planned:
a casual conversation
He made some casual remark (=one without thinking much about it) about her holiday.
7 . NOT REGULAR [only before noun] doing something or using something sometimes but not regularly or often SYN occasional :
a casual drug user
The museum is of great interest, both to experts and to casual visitors.
—casually adverb :
a casually dressed young man
‘Where do you work?’ she asked casually.
He walked down the road, casually swinging his bag.
—casualness noun [uncountable]
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ careless not paying enough attention to what you are doing, so that you make mistakes, damage things etc:
I made a few careless mistakes.
|
It was careless of you to leave your purse lying about.
|
He started getting careless about taking his medication.
▪ clumsy often dropping or breaking things because you move around in a careless way:
I’m so clumsy, I spilt milk all over the floor.
|
a clumsy child
▪ sloppy careless and lazy in the way you do your work or in your behaviour generally:
As a student, he was brilliant but sloppy.
|
I will not tolerate sloppy work.
▪ reckless especially written doing dangerous or stupid things without thinking about your own or other people’s safety:
The driver of the car was arrested for reckless driving.
|
His actions showed a reckless disregard for human life.
▪ irresponsible careless in a way that might affect other people, especially when you should be taking care of them:
It’s irresponsible for parents to let their children smoke.
|
his irresponsible attitude to keeping animals
▪ tactless carelessly saying something that upsets or embarrasses someone, without intending to do this:
He kept making tactless remarks about her appearance.
|
a tactless question
|
I thought it would be tactless to ask about her divorce.
▪ casual not being careful enough about something and treating it as though it is not important:
He seems to have a very casual attitude towards his work.
|
She disliked the casual way in which he made decisions affecting other people’s lives.
▪ negligent careless about something that you are responsible for, so that serious mistakes are made – used especially when someone will be officially punished for this:
The doctor was negligent in using the wrong type of needle.
|
They found him guilty of negligent conduct.