civilian casualty
Non-combatant victim
A civilian casualty is a non-combatant killed or injured during military operations or armed conflict.
The term appears frequently in war reporting and international law discussions: The airstrike caused significant civilian casualties.
Casualty here includes both deaths and injuries, though the phrase often implies fatalities.
Military and government sources sometimes use the clinical term to distance language from human cost.
- collateral damageUnintended harm from military action
- war crimeIllegal act in combat
- warArmed struggle between groups
- bombingAttack with explosives
- airstrikeAircraft-delivered military attack
cluster bomb · innocent · human shield · victim · caught in crossfire · death toll · crossfire · white flag · shelling · ground zero · refugee · wounded · noncombatant · massacre · tragedy · humanitarian · rubble · hospital
- war casualtiescasualties, war casualties, war dead, killed in action, fallen soldiers
- warfarebattle, combat, attack, war, armed conflict
civilian casualtymilitary objective
Wartime goal or target
strategic target · precision strike · surgical strike · targeted killing
civilian, civil, civility, civilly, civilize, civilized, civilization, civics, civic