casual - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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

casual (comparative more casual, superlative most casual)

  1. Happening by chance.
    Synonyms: accidental, fortuitous, incidental, occasional, random; see also Thesaurus:accidental
    Antonyms: inevitable, necessary
    They only had casual meetings.
  2. Coming without regularity; occasional or incidental.
    Synonym: ad hoc
    The purchase of donuts was just a casual expense.
  3. Employed irregularly.
    He was just a casual worker.
    • 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.
  4. Careless.
    Synonyms: easygoing, unconcerned; see also Thesaurus:carefree
    • 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.
    Synonyms: unexpected, unplanned; see also Thesaurus:impromptu
    Antonyms: expected, scheduled
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      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.
  6. (of behavior, usage, or milieu) Informal; relaxed.
    Synonym: colloquial
    Antonyms: strict, formal, official
    tone in casual interactions
  7. (of clothing or utensils) Designed for informal or everyday use.
    Synonyms: cas, informal
    Antonyms: ceremonial, formal, regulation
    Hyponym: business casual
    pants in the casual wear collection

happening by chance — see also accidental

coming without regularity; occasional or incidental

designed for informal or everyday use — see also informal

casual (plural casuals)

  1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand) A worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.
  2. A worker who is doing a particular type of job temporarily, not as a lifetime career.
    • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:
      Of the scavagers proper there are, as in all classes of unskilled labour, that is to say, of labour which requires no previous apprenticeship, and to which any one can “turn his hand” on an emergency, two distinct orders of workmen, “the regulars and casuals” to adopt the trade terms; that is to say, the labourers consist of those who have been many years at the trade, constantly employed at it, and those who have but recently taken to it as a means of obtaining a subsistence after their ordinary resources have failed.
  3. A soldier temporarily at a place of duty, usually en route to another place of duty.
  4. (UK, historical) A member of a group of football hooligans who wear expensive designer clothing to avoid police attention; see casual (subculture).
    Synonyms: dresser, (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[1]:
      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.
  5. (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.
    • 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:
      During the great prevalence of vagrancy, the cost of the sick was far greater than the expense of relief. In the quarter ending June 1848, no less than 322 casuals were under medical treatment, either in the workhouse of the Wandsworth and Clapham union or at the London Fever Hospital.
  6. (video games, informal, derogatory) A player of casual games.
    The devs dumbed the game down so the casuals could enjoy it.
  7. (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 Joseph Brennan, editor, Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans Through Homoerotic Possibilities, 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, […]
  8. (UK, 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.
  9. (in the plural) 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.

a worker who is only working for a company occasionally

Borrowed from Latin cāsuālis.

casual m or f (masculine and feminine plural casuals)

  1. casual
  2. unplanned

Borrowed from Latin cāsuālis. By surface analysis, caso +‎ -ual.

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)

From Latin cāsuālis.

casual m or f (masculine and feminine plural casuales)

  1. casual
  2. accidental
  3. coincidental, chance