Wiktionary

casual

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle French casuel, from Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”) (whence English cadence).

PronunciationEdit

cas‧ual,
casu‧al
  • Audio (AU)(file)

AdjectiveEdit

casual (comparative more casual, superlative most casual)

  1. Happening by chance.
    They only had casual meetings.
  2. Coming without regularity; occasional or incidental.
    The purchase of donuts was just a casual expense.
  3. Employed irregularly.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.
    He was just a casual worker.
  4. Careless.
    • 2007, Nick Holland, The Girl on the Bus (page 117)
      I removed my jacket and threw it casually over the back of the settee.
  5. Happening or coming to pass without design.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess‎[1]:
      It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.
    • 2012, Jeff Miller, Grown at Glen Garden: Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and the Little Texas Golf Course that Propelled Them to Stardom
      Hogan assumed the entire creek bed was to be played as a casual hazard, moved his ball out and assessed himself a one-stroke penalty.
  7. (of behavior, usage, or milieu) Informal; relaxed.
    tone in casual interactions
  9. (of clothing or utensils) Designed for informal or everyday use.
    Hyponym: business casual
    pants in the casual wear collection

SynonymsEdit

AntonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

casual (plural casuals)

  1. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.
  2. A soldier temporarily at a place of duty, usually en route to another place of duty.
  3. (UK, historical) A member of a group of football hooligans who wear expensive designer clothing to avoid police attention; see casual (subculture).
    Synonym: (Manchester) Perry boy
    • 2019 September 14, Miranda Sawyer, “Mark Leckey: ‘There has to be a belief that art has this power, this charisma'”, in The Guardian‎[2]:
      At 15, he became a casual: one of the label-wearing, wedge-flicking, swaggering hooligan peacock boys who dominated the north-west when I was growing up. Casuals were working-class lads (called Perry boys in Manchester) who loved football, fighting and brilliant sportswear.
  4. One who receives relief for a night in a parish to which he does not belong; a vagrant.
  5. (video games, informal, derogatory) A player of casual games.
    The devs dumbed the game down so the casuals could enjoy it.
  6. (fandom slang) A person whose engagement with media is relaxed or superficial.
    • 1972, Lee C. Garrison, "The Needs of Motion Picture Audiences", California Management Review, Volume 15, Issue 2, Winter 1972, page 149:
      Casuals outnumbered regulars in the art-house audience two to one.
    • 2010, Jennifer Gillan, Television and New Media: Must-Click TV, page 16:
      Most often, when a series is marketed toward casuals, the loyals feel that their interests and needs are not being met.
    • 2018, E. J. Nielsen, "The Gay Elephant Meta in the Room: Sherlock and the Johnlock Conspiracy", in Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans Through Homoerotic Possibilities (ed. Joseph Brennan), page 91:
      Treating a gay relationship as a puzzle that must be pursued by the clever viewers and hidden from “casuals” until a narrative reveal at the eleventh hour seems antithetical to the idea of normalized representation that TJLCers claim as the main reason they want Johnlock to be canon, […]
  7. (Britain, dated) A tramp.
    • 1983, Reg Butler, Reg Butler, London: Tate Gallery London, page 14:
      I was a boy in 1922 or 1923, when buses first started to run between the village and the town; there were tramps, casuals as they were called; the whole pattern of my boyhood was knit into a very loaded atmosphere of human character.
  8. Shoes suitable for everyday use, as opposed to more formal footwear.
    • 1948 December, “Shoes: Competition Is Back”, in Kiplinger Magazine, page 47, column 2:
      Next spring you’ll see more women than ever wearing “casuals” and “flats,” the shoes with the wedge heels or no heels at all.
    • 1959, The Medical Officer, page 158:
      In girls wearing casuals, ugly hypertrophied skin over the heels was frequently noted, probably due to the loose shoe moving as they walked.
    • 1967, Kenneth Tynan, Tynan Right & Left: Plays, Films, People, Places and Events, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum, page 65:
      Like his friends, he is wearing casuals, ideal for lounging around crypts.
    • 1984, William Golding, The Paper Men, page 71:
      He and I were wearing casuals […]

TranslationsEdit

Related termsEdit

ReferencesEdit

AnagramsEdit

CatalanEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin cāsuālis.

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

casual (masculine and feminine plural casuals)

  1. casual
  2. unplanned

Derived termsEdit

Further readingEdit

PortugueseEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin cāsuālis.

PronunciationEdit

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ka.zuˈaw/ [ka.zʊˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /kaˈzwaw/ [kaˈzwaʊ̯]

  • Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
  • Hyphenation: ca‧su‧al

AdjectiveEdit

casual m or f (plural casuais)

  1. casual (happening by chance)
    Synonym: fortuito
  2. casual (coming without regularity)
    Synonym: ocasional
  3. casual (designed for informal or everyday use)

Derived termsEdit

SpanishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin cāsuālis.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /kaˈswal/ [kaˈswal]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: ca‧sual

AdjectiveEdit

casual (plural casuales)

  1. casual
  2. accidental
  3. coincidental, chance

Derived termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

  • → Cebuano: kaswal

Further readingEdit

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