callous
Americanadjective
-
made hard; hardened.
- Synonyms:
- hard
- Antonyms:
- soft
-
insensitive; indifferent; unsympathetic.
They have a callous attitude toward the sufferings of others.
- Synonyms:
- obtuse, insensible
- Antonyms:
- sensitive
-
having a callus; indurated, as parts of the skin exposed to friction.
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
-
unfeeling; insensitive
-
(of skin) hardened and thickened
verb
Synonym Usage
See hard.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of callous
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English from Latin callōsus “hard-skinned, tough,” equivalent to call(um) “tough skin, any hard substance” + -ōsus -ous
Explanation
A callous person is insensitive or emotionally hardened. If you laugh at your little sister while she's trying to show you her poetry, you're being callous. Callous comes from the Latin root callum for hard skin. If you walk barefoot a lot, your feet will become calloused. We often use callous, as an adjective or a verb, in the metaphorical sense for emotionally hardened. If someone is unmoved by other people's problems, you might say he shows a callous indifference to human suffering or that his heart has been calloused by his own problems.
Vocabulary lists containing callous
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If death has been integral to Hayakawa’s two features, it’s society’s callous reaction to aging that is her primary focus.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026
The idea that a warning should change the legal calculus of excessive force, now at the center of both of these cases, is callous and illogical.
From Slate • Apr. 21, 2026
Britt Eastland has his own, notably different, understanding of those days in which the Eastlands were not callous but heroic.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026
Speaking after the pair were sentenced, Det Ch Insp Stacey Atkinson from West Yorkshire Police condemned the pair's "horrific and truly callous actions".
From BBC • Dec. 10, 2025
Bigwig shuddered, partly at Chervil’s tone of callous indifference and partly at his own memories.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
