different between casualty vs null

English

Etymology

From casual, from Middle French casuel, from Medieval Latin casualitas and Late Latin c?su?lis (“happening by chance”), from Latin c?sus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”). Originally meaning “a chance event” (compare casual, as in “casual encounter”), it developed a negative meaning as “an unfortunate event”, especially the loss of a person.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?ka?(?)?lti/

Noun

casualty (countable and uncountable, plural casualties)

1. Something that happens by chance, especially an unfortunate event; an accident, a disaster.
   • 1756, Samuel Johnson, “The Life of Sir Thomas Browne” in Thomas Browne, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, p. xx,^[1]

     The course of his education was like that of others, such as put him little in the way of extraordinary casualties.

2. A person suffering from injuries or who has been killed due to an accident or through an act of violence.
3. (proscribed) Specifically, a person who has been killed (not only injured) due to an accident or through an act of violence; a fatality.
4. (military) A person in military service who becomes unavailable for duty, for any reason (notably death, injury, illness, capture, or desertion).
5. (Britain) The accident and emergency department of a hospital.
6. An incidental charge or payment.
7. Someone or something adversely affected by a decision, event or situation.
8. (obsolete) Chance nature; randomness.
   • , NYRB 2001, vol.1, p.327-8:

     The non-necessary [causes] follow; of which, saith Fuchsius, no art can be made, by reason of their uncertainty, casualty, and multitude […]

Usage notes

The term casualty is sometimes used to mean “a killed person”; in more careful use this is referred to as a fatality, and casualty instead means “killed or injured”.

Synonyms

• (something that happens by chance): fortune, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck
• (hospital's accident and emergency):
  • emergency / emergency room / emergency department / emergency ward / E. R./E.R./ER
  • casualty department / casualty ward
  • accident and emergency / A&E

Hyponyms

• fatality

Derived terms

• casualty department
• casualty event
• casualty ward

Related terms

• casual

Translations

References

• “casualty”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

English

Alternative forms

• Ø (linguistics, abbreviation)
• ? (mathematics, abbreviation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French nul, from Latin n?llus.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /n?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Noun

null (plural nulls)

1. A non-existent or empty value or set of values.
2. Zero quantity of expressions; nothing.
3. Something that has no force or meaning.
4. (computing) the ASCII or Unicode character (?), represented by a zero value, that indicates no character and is sometimes used as a string terminator.
5. (computing) the attribute of an entity that has no valid value.

   Since no date of birth was entered for the patient, his age is null.

6. One of the beads in nulled work.
7. (statistics) Null hypothesis.

Translations

Adjective

null (comparative more null, superlative most null)

1. Having no validity; "null and void"
2. Insignificant.
   • 1924, Marcel Proust, Within a Budding Grove:

     In proportion as we descend the social scale our snobbishness fastens on to mere nothings which are perhaps no more null than the distinctions observed by the aristocracy, but, being more obscure, more peculiar to the individual, take us more by surprise.

3. Absent or non-existent.
4. (mathematics) Of the null set.
5. (mathematics) Of or comprising a value of precisely zero.
6. (genetics, of a mutation) Causing a complete loss of gene function, amorphic.

Antonyms

• antinull
• non-null

Derived terms

• null determiner
• nullary
• nullity

Verb

null (third-person singular simple present nulls, present participle nulling, simple past and past participle nulled)

1. (transitive, archaic) To nullify; to annul.
2. To form nulls, or into nulls, as in a lathe.
3. (computing, slang, transitive) To crack; to remove restrictions or limitations in (software).

Related terms

• annul
• nulled work

See also

• nil

Cimbrian

Etymology

From Latin n?llus (“none”).

Numeral

null

1. (Luserna) zero

References

• “null” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Estonian

Numeral

null

1. zero

Faroese

Etymology

From Latin nullus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?l?/
• Rhymes: -?l?

Numeral

null

1. zero

Noun

null n (genitive singular nuls, plural null)

1. (mathematics) the numeric symbol that represents the cardinal number zero

Declension

German

Etymology

From the noun Null (“the number zero”), from Italian nulla, from Latin nulla, feminine singular of nullus (“no, none”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n?l/

Numeral

null

1. zero; nil; nought; (tennis) love (integer number between -1 and 1, denoting no quantity at all)

2. (colloquial) zero; no

   Synonym: (überhaupt) kein

Coordinate terms

Adjective

null (not comparable)

1. (specialist, law, chiefly predicative) null (having no validity)

Declension

Derived terms

• null und nichtig (also in common use)

Further reading

• “null” in Duden online and “null” in Duden online; cp. “null” in Duden online and “null” in Duden online
• “null” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache; cp. “Null” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nul/

Numeral

null

1. zero

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin nullus (“no one, none, no”), from Proto-Italic *ne oinolos, from Proto-Italic *oinos (“one”), from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one, single”).

Determiner

null

1. no (determiner: not any)

   ha null penger - to have no money

Numeral

null

1. zero, nought, nil

Noun

null m (definite singular nullen, indefinite plural nuller, definite plural nullene)
null n (definite singular nullet, indefinite plural null or nuller, definite plural nulla or nullene)

1. zero (numeric symbol of zero), nought, nil
2. a nobody or nonentity (derogatory about a person)

Derived terms

• nullstille
• nulltoleranse
• nullvekst

References

• “null” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin nullus

Determiner

null

1. no (determiner: not any)

   ha null pengar - to have no money

Numeral

null

1. zero, nought, nil

Noun

null m (definite singular nullen, indefinite plural nullar, definite plural nullane)
null n (definite singular nullet, indefinite plural null, definite plural nulla)

1. zero (numeric symbol of zero), nought, nil
2. a nobody or nonentity (derogatory about a person)

Derived terms

• nulltoleranse
• nullvekst

References

• “null” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German null.

Numeral

null

1. zero