Perfunctory vs Casual - What's the difference?
perfunctory | casual | Synonyms |
Done merely to discharge a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; done in a careless and superficial manner; characterized by indifference; as, perfunctory admonitions; aspiring only to minimum standards.
* 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter VIII
* 1992 , Peter Bowbrick, The Economics of Quality, Grades, and Brands ,
Happening by chance.
* (Washington Irving)
Coming without regularity; occasional or incidental.
* (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Employed irregularly.
* , chapter=17
, title= Careless.
* 2007 , Nick Holland, The Girl on the Bus (page 117)
Happening or coming to pass without design.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=8 Informal, relaxed.
Designed for informal or everyday use.
(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.
As adjectives the difference between perfunctory and casual
is that perfunctory is done merely to discharge a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; done in a careless and superficial manner; characterized by indifference; as, perfunctory admonitions; aspiring only to minimum standards while casual is happening by chance.As a noun casual is
a worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.perfunctory
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- He did a perfunctory job cleaning his dad's car, finishing quickly but leaving a few spots still dirty.
- I caught the gist of what he was saying--which in effect was that he had found and captured this Galu, that she was his and that he defied anyone to question his right of possession. It appeared to me, as I afterward learned was the fact, that I was witnessing the most primitive of marriage ceremonies. The assembled members of the tribe looked on and listened in a sort of dull and perfunctory apathy, for the speaker was by far the mightiest of the clan.
p. 55,
- Alternatively it may mean that a perfunctory search is enough to ensure that a purchase is acceptable, so less search is carried out.
Synonyms
* (performed out of routine) automatic, cursory, dutiful, mechanical, obligatory, slipshod, token, unthinkingAntonyms
* thoughtfulSee also
* pro formacasual
English
Alternative forms
* casuall (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- casual breaks, in the general system
- a constant habit, rather than a casual gesture
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.}}
- I removed my jacket and threw it casually over the back of the settee.
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.}}