Added 1 October 2026
casual
/ˈkaʒ(uː)əl/ adjective
Latin root: cāsuālis Wiktionary
adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about casual at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
Happening by chance.
They only had casual meetings.
-
Coming without regularity; occasional or incidental.
The purchase of donuts was just a casual expense.
-
Employed irregularly.
He was just a casual worker.
noun
- A worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.
- A worker who is doing a particular type of job temporarily, not as a lifetime career.
- A soldier temporarily at a place of duty, usually en route to another place of duty.
Origin
From Middle French casuel, from Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”) (whence English cadence).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)