casual
UK /ˈkaʒ(uː)əl/ · US /ˈkæʒ(u)əl/ adjective, noun
Forms casuals casuall cazh
- adjective Happening by chance. “They only had casual meetings.”
- adjective Coming without regularity; occasional or incidental. “The purchase of donuts was just a casual expense.”
- adjective Employed irregularly. “He was just a casual worker.”
- adjective Careless.
- adjective Happening or coming to pass without design.
- adjective (of behavior, usage, or milieu) Informal; relaxed. “tone in casual interactions”
- adjective (of clothing or utensils) Designed for informal or everyday use. “pants in the casual wear collection”
- noun (UK, Australia, New Zealand) A worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.
- noun A worker who is doing a particular type of job temporarily, not as a lifetime career.
- noun A soldier temporarily at a place of duty, usually en route to another place of duty.
- noun (UK, historical) A member of a group of football hooligans who wear expensive designer clothing to avoid police attention; see casual (subculture).
- noun (UK, historical) One who receives relief for a night in a parish to which he or she does not belong; a vagrant in the casual ward.
- noun (video games, informal, derogatory) A player of casual games. “The devs dumbed the game down so the casuals could enjoy it.”
- noun (fandom slang) A person whose engagement with media is relaxed or superficial.
- noun (UK, dated) A tramp.
Synonyms
accidental fortuitous incidental occasional random accidentary adventitious by accident by the by causeless chanceable lippening serendipitous unforeseen unintended unintentional unplanned ad hoc easygoing unconcerned insouciant nonchalant everyday daily chance cursory passing perfunctory fooling free-and-easy
Antonyms
inevitable necessary expected scheduled strict formal official ceremonial regulation
Etymology
From Middle French casuel, from Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”) (whence English cadence).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Happening or coming to pass without design, and without being foreseen or expected; accidental; fortuitous; coming by chance.
- adjective Coming without regularity; occasional; incidental; as, casual expenses.
- noun One who receives relief for a night in a parish to which he does not belong; a vagrant.
Etymology [OE. casuel, F. casuel, fr. L. casualis, fr. casus fall, accident, fr. cadere to fall. See Case.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “casual”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details