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CASUAL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
Example:
In his paper, he showed a very superficial understanding of psychoanalytic theory
Synonyms:
casual; cursory; passing; perfunctory; superficial
Classified under:
Similar:
careless (marked by lack of attention or consideration or forethought or thoroughness; not careful)
Derivation:
casualness (a casual manner)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Marked by blithe unconcern
Example:
was polite in a teasing nonchalant manner
Synonyms:
casual; insouciant; nonchalant
Classified under:
Similar:
unconcerned (lacking in interest or care or feeling)
Derivation:
casualness (a casual manner)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not showing effort or strain
Example:
careless grace
Synonyms:
casual; effortless
Classified under:
Similar:
easy (posing no difficulty; requiring little effort)
Derivation:
casualness (a casual manner)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Appropriate for ordinary or routine occasions
Example:
everyday clothes
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
informal (not formal)
Derivation:
casualness (a casual manner)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Natural and unstudied
Example:
lectured in a free-and-easy style
Synonyms:
casual; free-and-easy
Classified under:
Similar:
informal (not formal)
Derivation:
casualness (a casual manner)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Characterized by a feeling of irresponsibility
Example:
a broken back is nothing to be casual about; it is no fooling matter
Synonyms:
casual; fooling
Classified under:
Similar:
light (psychologically light; especially free from sadness or troubles)
Derivation:
casualness (a casual manner)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Occurring or appearing or singled out by chance
Example:
a chance occurrence
Synonyms:
casual; chance
Classified under:
Similar:
unplanned (without apparent forethought or prompting or planning)
Derivation:
casualness (a casual manner)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Without or seeming to be without plan or method; offhand
Example:
information collected by casual methods and in their spare time
Classified under:
Similar:
unplanned (without apparent forethought or prompting or planning)
Derivation:
casualness (a casual manner)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Occurring on a temporary or irregular basis
Example:
an occasional worker
Synonyms:
casual; occasional
Classified under:
Similar:
irregular (contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice)
Derivation:
casualness (a casual manner)
Context examples:
This means love has become a serious topic for you, not something trivial or casual.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
“Well?” said Miss Betsey, coming back to her chair, as if she had only been taking a casual look at the prospect; “and when do you expect—”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
As impassive as ever to the casual observer, there were none the less a subdued eagerness and suggestion of tension in his brightened eyes and brisker manner which assured me that the game was afoot.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Even now a casual observer might have thought that he had the best of the battle, for the smith was far the more terribly marked, but there was a wild stare in the west-countryman’s eyes, and a strange catch in his breathing, which told us that it is not the most dangerous blow which shows upon the surface.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
On occasion, in a casual sort of way, when she thought hunger pinched hardest, she would send him in a loaf of new baking, awkwardly covering the act with banter to the effect that it was better than he could bake.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
I am not referring to casual dating or a roll in the hay, but rather real and heartfelt love, the kind of love you will want to treasure, nurture, and build your life upon.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
On the contrary they were merely casual events in a crowded summer and, until much later, they absorbed me infinitely less than my personal affairs.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
But what gave it an air of breathless intensity was that Daisy lived there—it was as casual a thing to her as his tent out at camp was to him.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths so that he could "come over" some afternoon to a stranger's garden.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Then out into the spring fields, where a yellow trolley raced them for a minute with people in it who might once have seen the pale magic of her face along the casual street.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
