Origin: Latin suffix -al
Casual has 11 different meanings across 1 category:
A worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.
"The store manager hired him as a casual to help during the busy holiday rush since he wasn't available for a full-time role."
In plain English: A casual is someone who hangs out with you without any serious commitment or plans for the future.
"The casual at the bar offered me a free round of drinks."
Usage: Use the noun "casual" to describe a temporary or part-time worker hired on an occasional basis rather than as a permanent staff member. This term specifically refers to the employment status of someone without guaranteed long-term job security.
marked by blithe unconcern
"an ability to interest casual students"
"showed a casual disregard for cold weather"
"an utterly insouciant financial policy"
"an elegantly insouciant manner"
"drove his car with nonchalant abandon"
"was polite in a teasing nonchalant manner"
without or seeming to be without plan or method; offhand
"a casual remark"
"information collected by casual methods and in their spare time"
hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
"a casual (or cursory) inspection failed to reveal the house's structural flaws"
"a passing glance"
"perfunctory courtesy"
"In his paper, he showed a very superficial understanding of psychoanalytic theory"
occurring on a temporary or irregular basis
"casual employment"
"a casual correspondence with a former teacher"
"an occasional worker"
natural and unstudied
"using their Christian names in a casual way"
"lectured in a free-and-easy style"
not showing effort or strain
"a difficult feat performed with casual mastery"
"careless grace"
Happening by chance.
"I ran into my old professor at the coffee shop, which was a purely casual meeting since we had no plans to see each other that day."
In plain English: Casual means relaxed and not too serious or formal.
"She wore casual clothes to the park on Sunday."
Usage: Use casual to describe something that occurs without planning or happens by chance, such as a casual meeting. Do not use it to mean relaxed or informal when referring to the style of dress or tone unless specifically contrasting with formal arrangements.
The word "casual" comes from the Old French term casuel, which originally meant something happening by chance. This idea traces back to the Latin root for an event or falling, reflecting how the term entered English with its sense of unpredictability rather than a specific planned outcome.