/ ˈkæʒuəlti; NAmE / noun ( pl. -ies )
1.
[ C ] a person who is killed or injured in war or in an accident :
road casualties
Both sides had suffered heavy casualties (= many people had been killed) .
2.
[ C ] a person that suffers or a thing that is destroyed when sth else takes place
SYN victim :
She became a casualty of the reduction in part-time work (= she lost her job) .
Small shops have been a casualty of the recession.
3.
[ U ] (also ˈcasualty department , ˌaccident and eˈmergency ) (all BrE ) ( NAmE eˈmergency room ) the part of a hospital where people who need urgent treatment are taken :
The victims were rushed to casualty.
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English (in the sense chance, a chance occurrence ): from medieval Latin casualitas , from casualis , from casus fall, on the pattern of words such as penalty .