Definition of casualty

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ca·su·al·ty    (kzh-l-t) KEY 

NOUN:
pl. ca·su·al·ties

1. An accident, especially one involving serious injury or loss of life.
2. One injured or killed in an accident: a train wreck with many casualties.
3. One injured, killed, captured, or missing in action through engagement with an enemy. Often used in the plural: Battlefield casualties were high.
4. One that is harmed or eliminated as a result of an action or a circumstance: The corner grocery was a casualty of the expanding supermarkets.

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ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English casuelte, from Old French, from Medieval Latin csulits, chance, accident, from Latin csulis, fortuitous ; see casual