casualty

Universal Words noun (plural casualties) 1 [C] a person who is killed or injured in war or in an accident: road casualties * Both sides had suffered heavy casualties (= many people had been killed). 2 [C] a person that suffers or a thing that is destroyed when sth else takes place: She became a casualty of the reduction in part-time work (= she lost her job). * Small shops have been a casualty of the recession. 3 [U] (also casualty department, accident and emergency) (all BrE) (AmE emergency room) the part of a hospital where people who need urgent treatment are taken: The victims were rushed to casualty in an ambulance. * We waited in casualty until a doctor could see us.