different between indifferent vs casual

English

Etymology

From Old French indifferent, from Latin indifferens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?d?f.??nt/, /?n?d?f.?.??nt/
• Hyphenation: in?dif?fer?ent

Adjective

indifferent (comparative more indifferent, superlative most indifferent)

1. Not caring or concerned; uninterested, apathetic.
   • 1816, Jane Austen, Emma, Volume 2, Chapter 16,^[1]

     “I must not hope to be ever situated as you are, in the midst of every dearest connexion, and therefore I cannot expect that simply growing older should make me indifferent about letters.”

     “Indifferent! Oh! no—I never conceived you could become indifferent. Letters are no matter of indifference; they are generally a very positive curse.”

   • 1933, George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, Chapter 3,^[2]

     When you have a hundred francs in the world you are liable to the most craven panics. When you have only three francs you are quite indifferent; for three francs will feed you till tomorrow, and you cannot think further than that. You are bored, but you are not afraid.

2. Indicating or reflecting a lack of concern or care.
   • 1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Chapter 25,^[3]

     Donald appeared not to see her at all, and answered her wise little remarks with curtly indifferent monosyllables […]

   • 1990, J. M. Coetzee, Age of Iron, London: Secker & Warburg, p. 33,

     ‘Wonderful, Florence,’ I said, producing the ritual phrases: ‘I don’t know what I would do without you.’ But of course I do know. I would sink into the indifferent squalor of old age.

3. Mediocre (usually used negatively in modern usage).
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 2, Book 10, Chapter 9, p. 275,^[4]

     When Mrs. Honour had made her Report from the Landlord, Sophia, with much Difficulty, procured some indifferent Horses, which brought her to the Inn, where Jones had been confined rather by the Misfortune of meeting with a Surgeon, than by having met with a broken Head.

   • 1826, Walter Scott, Woodstock, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, Volume I, Chapter 3, p. 84,^[5]

     […] the state-rooms are unaired, and in indifferent order, since of late years.

   • 1965, Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate, Part 2, p. 252,^[6]

     Suddenly Barbara remembered the party where she had first met Ruth Gardnor with her husband. The night of the dinner party. And the cello: it had been an indifferent performance.

4. Having no preference or bias, being impartial.
   • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, London: J. Tonson, Act V, Scene 1, p. 57,^[7]

     […] Let Guilt or Fear

     Disturb Man’s Rest: Cato knows neither of ’em,

     Indiff’rent in his Choice to sleep or die.

   • 1933, H. G. Wells, The Shape of Things to Come, Book 3, Part 7,^[8]

     The scientific worker aims at knowledge and is quite indifferent whether people like or dislike the knowledge he produces.

5. Not making a difference; without significance or importance.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 3,^[9]

     […] But I am arm’d,

     And dangers are to me indifferent.

   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, “Of Contentedness” in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, 8th edition, London: Richard Royston, 1668, Chapter 2, Section 6, p. 118,^[10]

     […] every thing in the world is indifferent but sin.

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, p. 162,^[11]

     His gestures, his gait, his grizzled beard, his slightest and most indifferent acts, the very fashion of his garments, were odious in the clergyman’s sight;

   • 1956, Mary Renault, The Last of the Wine, New York: Modern Library, Chapter 28, p. 374,^[12]

     We talked of indifferent things, and watched the juggler who was tossing torches in the Stadium, for twilight was falling.

6. (mechanics) Being in the state of neutral equilibrium.
7. (obsolete) Not different, matching.
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Scene 1,^[13]

     […] let their heads be sleekly comb’d, their blue coats brush’d and their garters of an indifferent knit

Related terms

• indifference
• indifferency (obsolete)
• indifferentism
• indifferently

Translations

Noun

indifferent (plural indifferents)

1. A person who is indifferent or apathetic.

Adverb

indifferent

1. (obsolete) To some extent, in some degree (intermediate between very and not at all); moderately, tolerably, fairly.

Usage notes

• Now obsolete, but very common c. 1600-1730.

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “indifferent”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Middle French

Adjective

indifferent m (feminine singular indifferente, masculine plural indifferents, feminine plural indifferentes)

1. indifferent; apathetic

English

Alternative forms

• casuall (obsolete)
• (shortening, informal) cazh

Etymology

From Middle French casuel, from Late Latin c?su?lis (“happening by chance”), from Latin c?sus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”) (whence English cadence).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ka?u?l/, /?ka?ju?l/, /?kazju?l/, /?ka??l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kæ?u?l/, /?kæ?w?l/, /?kæ??l/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?k????l/, /?k???l/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /-uæl/
• Hyphenation: ca?su?al, cas?ual, casu?al

Adjective

casual (comparative more casual, superlative most casual)

1. Happening by chance.

   • casual breaks, in the general system

2. Coming without regularity; occasional or incidental.

   • a constant habit, rather than a casual gesture

3. Employed irregularly.

4. Careless.
   • 2007, Nick Holland, The Girl on the Bus (page 117)

     I removed my jacket and threw it casually over the back of the settee.

5. Happening or coming to pass without design.
   • 2012, Jeff Miller, Grown at Glen Garden: Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, and the Little Texas Golf Course that Propelled Them to Stardom

     Hogan assumed the entire creek bed was to be played as a casual hazard, moved his ball out and assessed himself a one-stroke penalty.

6. Informal, relaxed.
7. Designed for informal or everyday use.

Synonyms

• (happening by chance): accidental, fortuitous, incidental, occasional, random; see also Thesaurus:accidental
• (happening or coming to pass without design): unexpected
• (relaxed; everyday use): informal

Antonyms

• (happening by chance): inevitable, necessary
• (happening or coming to pass without design): expected, scheduled
• (relaxed; everyday use): ceremonial, formal

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

casual (plural casuals)

1. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.
2. A soldier temporarily at a place of duty, usually en route to another place of duty.
3. (Britain) A member of a group of football hooligans who wear expensive designer clothing to avoid police attention; see casual (subculture).
4. One who receives relief for a night in a parish to which he does not belong; a vagrant.
5. (video games, informal, derogatory) A player of casual games.

6. (fandom slang) A person whose engagement with media is relaxed or superficial.
   • 1972, Lee C. Garrison, "The Needs of Motion Picture Audiences", California Management Review, Volume 15, Issue 2, Winter 1972, page 149:

     Casuals outnumbered regulars in the art-house audience two to one.

   • 2010, Jennifer Gillan, Television and New Media: Must-Click TV, page 16:

     Most often, when a series is marketed toward casuals, the loyals feel that their interests and needs are not being met.

   • 2018, E. J. Nielsen, "The Gay Elephant Meta in the Room: Sherlock and the Johnlock Conspiracy", in Queerbaiting and Fandom: Teasing Fans Through Homoerotic Possibilities (ed. Joseph Brennan), page 91:

     Treating a gay relationship as a puzzle that must be pursued by the clever viewers and hidden from “casuals” until a narrative reveal at the eleventh hour seems antithetical to the idea of normalized representation that TJLCers claim as the main reason they want Johnlock to be canon, […]

7. (Britain, dated) A tramp.

Translations

Related terms

• casualty
• case

References

• casual in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Calusa, casula, causal

Catalan

Adjective

casual (masculine and feminine plural casuals)

1. casual
2. unplanned

Derived terms

• casualitat
• casualment

Portuguese

Adjective

casual m or f (plural casuais, comparable)

1. casual (happening by chance)

   Synonym: fortuito

2. casual (coming without regularity)

   Synonym: ocasional

3. casual (designed for informal or everyday use)

Spanish

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

casual (plural casuales)

1. casual
2. accidental
3. coincidental, chance

Derived terms

• casualmente

Descendants

• ? Cebuano: kaswal

Further reading

• “casual” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.