casual

Pluralcasuals

1. 1
   adjective

   Relaxed and informal in manner, tone, or style.

   The interview had a casual feel, more like a chat than a test.

   He greeted his boss with a casual wave on his way out.

   Similarinformal, relaxed, colloquial

   Oppositeformal, strict, official

2. 2
   adjective

   Designed for informal or everyday use rather than formal occasions.

   The restaurant has a casual dress code, so jeans are fine.

   She prefers casual clothing on weekends and saves suits for work.

   Similarinformal

   Oppositeformal, ceremonial

   Note

   The clothing sense is heard most often in casual wear and a casual dress code, and it can be clipped to cas. Its opposites are formal, ceremonial and regulation, so it can mean either 'not dressy' or 'not uniform'. Made into a plural noun, it names a kind of footwear: everyday shoes.

3. 3
   adjective

   Occurring by chance rather than by arrangement.

   A casual encounter at the conference turned into a long partnership.

   The match was a casual one, the result of two people taking the same shortcut.

   Similaraccidental, random, unplanned, unintentional, fortuitous

   Oppositeinevitable, necessary

   Note

   The oldest idea in the word is falling. Latin cāsus, an event, comes from cadere, 'to fall', so what is casual is what befalls you; the same root gives English case and cadence. Its near neighbors are accidental and fortuitous, and its opposites are inevitable and necessary. That shows the sense is about cause, not manner: a casual meeting here is an unplanned one, not a relaxed one.

4. 4
   adjective

   Arising irregularly or by chance rather than as part of a regular pattern.

   The shop relied on casual trade from tourists passing through.

   His comments were casual remarks rather than a settled opinion.

   Similaroccasional, passing, incidental, offhand

   Oppositeregular

   Note

   Here the stress falls on frequency rather than cause. Nathaniel Hawthorne, in The Scarlet Letter (1850), sets 'a constant habit' against 'a casual gesture', and that pairing makes a good test: if habitual or regular is the opposite you mean, this is the sense. A casual expense is a one-off. With the 'by chance' meaning, by contrast, nothing was arranged at all.

5. 5
   adjective

   Showing or done with little care or concern; careless.

   His casual disregard for the rules eventually cost him the job.

   She answered with a casual indifference that annoyed her teacher.

   Similarrelaxed, easygoing, carefree, indifferent, unconcerned

   Oppositecareful, concerned

6. 6
   adjective

   Happening or coming to pass without design or intention.

   The discovery was entirely casual, made by someone looking for something else.

   A casual observation by a passerby ended up cracking the case.

   Similarunexpected, unplanned, impromptu, improvised, offhand

   Oppositeexpected, scheduled

   Note

   Golf gives this sense a working use. In Jeff Miller's Grown at Glen Garden (2012), Ben Hogan treats a whole creek bed as a casual hazard, moves his ball out and takes a one-stroke penalty. The hazard is something that happened to be there, not part of the course's design. Elsewhere the word marks what is unplanned but revealing, like the 'casual sneer' in Margery Allingham's The China Governess.

7. 7
   adjective

   Employed on an irregular or occasional basis rather than permanently.

   Most of the holiday staff were casual employees taken on for a few weeks.

   He preferred casual labor because it left his weekdays free.

   Similartemporary, occasional, irregular, seasonal

   Oppositepermanent, regular

8. 8
   nouncountable

   A worker doing a particular kind of job temporarily rather than as a lifelong career.

   Each casual on the crew was paid by the day.

   The warehouse relies on casuals to handle seasonal spikes in orders.

   Similartemp

   Note

   Here what is temporary is the line of work, not the tie to an employer. The question is whether the job is a career. Henry Mayhew, writing in 1851, places such workers among the unskilled: trades that need no apprenticeship and that anyone could turn a hand to in an emergency. Compare the occasional company worker, where what is temporary is the bond with one firm.

9. 9
   nounAustraliaBritishNew Zealandcountable

   A worker employed by a company only occasionally rather than as a permanent member of staff.

   The pub keeps a few casuals on call for its busiest weekends.

   Each casual was brought in to cover the summer season only.

   Similartemp

   Note

   A noun of British, Australian and New Zealand workplaces: a pub or shop keeps casuals on call or puts a casual on the roster. It is the worker named by the 'employed irregularly' adjective. What defines the casual is the relationship to one employer: they are called in from time to time and never join the permanent staff.

10. 10
    nouncountableplural

    Shoes suitable for everyday wear rather than formal footwear.

    He keeps a pair of leather casuals by the door for quick errands.

    Loose-fitting casuals can slip at the heel and rub the skin raw on a long walk.

    Note

    Here the everyday-wear adjective has become a noun for the shoes themselves, and it lives in the plural. One wears casuals, just as one wears flats, its partner in a 1948 Kiplinger Magazine piece on women's shoes. A single shoe is more naturally called a casual shoe. Kenneth Tynan and William Golding both use it plainly for men's footwear, so the word is not tied to either sex.

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