different between slack vs casual

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slæk/
• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle English slak, from Old English slæc (“slack”), from Proto-Germanic *slakaz. For sense of coal dust, compare slag.

Noun

slack (countable and uncountable, plural slacks)

1. (uncountable) The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it.

2. (countable) A tidal marsh or shallow that periodically fills and drains.
3. (uncountable, psychotherapy) Unconditional listening attention given by client to patient.
   • 1979, Richard Dean Rosen, Psychobabble (page 93)

     The counselor is directed to give his client "free attention," or "slack," performing a kind of vigil, a version of Carl Rogers's "unconditional positive regard."

   • 1983, Harvey Jackins, The Reclaiming of Power (page 14)

     We have apparently been doing this all our lives, since we were first distressed. This collection of ancient habits seems to be "energized" by the presence, or even the promise, of "slack" or free attention from any person in the situation […]

Synonyms

• (tidal marsh): slough

Translations

Adjective

slack (comparative slacker, superlative slackest)

1. (normally said of a rope) Lax; not tense; not firmly extended.

2. Weak; not holding fast.

3. Moderate in some capacity.
   1. Moderately warm.

   2. Moderate in speed.

4. lacking diligence or care; not earnest or eager.
5. Not active, successful, or violent.
6. Excess; surplus to requirements.

7. (slang, Caribbean, Jamaican) vulgar; sexually explicit, especially in dancehall music.
8. (linguistics) Lax.

Synonyms

• (not violent, rapid, or pressing): slow, moderate, easy

Derived terms

• slacken
• slack-jawed
• slackness

Translations

Adverb

slack (not comparable)

1. Slackly.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English slakken, slaken, from Old English slacian, from Proto-Germanic *slak?n? (“to slack, slacken”).

Verb

slack (third-person singular simple present slacks, present participle slacking, simple past and past participle slacked)

1. To slacken.

   • In this business of growing rich, poor men […] should slack their pace.

2. (obsolete) To mitigate; to reduce the strength of.
3. To lose cohesion or solidity by a chemical combination with water; to slake.

Derived terms

• slack off

Translations

Etymology 3

Either from the adjective in Etymology 1 or the verb in Etymology 2.

Noun

slack (plural slacks)

1. (rail transport) A temporary speed restriction where track maintenance or engineering work is being carried out at a particular place.

Etymology 4

From Middle English slak, from Old Norse slakki (“a slope”). Cognate with Icelandic slakki, Norwegian slakke.

Noun

slack (plural slacks)

1. (countable) A valley, or small, shallow dell.

Etymology 5

Probably from German Schlacke (“dross, slag”). Doublet of slag.

Noun

slack (uncountable)

1. (mining) Small coal; coal dust.
   • 1905, Colliery Engineer (volume 25, page 107)

     One of the important improvements of recent years has been attained by mixing the peat pulp as it passes through the grinding machine, with other inflammable materials, such as bituminous coal dust, or slack […]

Synonyms

• culm

Derived terms

• nutty slack

Anagrams

• calks, kcals, lacks

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.