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Casual vs Momentary - What's the difference?

casual | momentary |

As adjectives the difference between casual and momentary

is that casual is happening by chance while momentary is lasting for only a moment.

As a noun casual

is a worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.

casual

English

Alternative forms

* casuall (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Happening by chance.
  • * (Washington Irving)
  • casual breaks, in the general system
  • Coming without regularity; occasional or incidental.
  • * (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
  • a constant habit, rather than a casual gesture
  • Employed irregularly.
  • * , chapter=17
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.}}
  • 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.
  • Happening or coming to pass without design.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=8 citation , passage=It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.}}
  • Informal, relaxed.
  • Designed for informal or everyday use.
  • Derived terms

    * casually * casualization * smart casual

    Synonyms

    *(happening by chance) accidental, fortuitous, incidental, occasional *(happening or coming to pass without design) unexpected * informal

    Antonyms

    *(happening by chance) inevitable, necessary *(happening or coming to pass without design) expected, scheduled * ceremonial, formal

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British, NZ) A worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.
  • A soldier temporarily at a place of duty, usually en route to another place of duty.
  • (UK) A member of a group of football hooligans who wear expensive designer clothing to avoid police attention; see .
  • One who receives relief for a night in a parish to which he does not belong; a vagrant.
  • A player of casual games.
  • References

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    momentary

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • for only a moment.
  • Happening at every moment; perpetual.
  • Ephemeral or relatively short-lived.
  • {{quote-Fanny Hill, part=3 , Yet oh! what an immense difference did I feel between this impression of a pleasure merely animal, and struck out of the collision of the sexes by a passive bodily effect, from that sweet fury, that rage of active delight which crowns the enjoyments of a mutual love-passion, where two hearts, tenderly and truly united, club to exalt the joy, and give it a spirit and soul that bids defiance to that end which mere momentary desires generally terminate in, when they die of a surfeit of satisfaction!}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1907, author=
  • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=20 citation , passage=Tony's face expressed relief, and Nettie sat silent for a moment until the vicar said “It was a generous impulse, but it may have been a momentary one,

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * momentarily * momentary god

    Anagrams

    *