callous

[ kal-uhs ]

/ ˈkæl əs /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR callous ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

made hard; hardened.

insensitive; indifferent; unsympathetic: They have a callous attitude toward the sufferings of others.

having a callus; indurated, as parts of the skin exposed to friction.

verb (used with or without object)

to make or become hard or callous.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

callosal gyrus, callose, callosity, callot, callot, jacques, callous, calloused, callously, callow, calloway, calloway, cab

Origin of callous

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin callōsus hard-skinned, tough, equivalent to call(um) tough skin, any hard substance + -ōsus -ous

SYNONYMS FOR callous

1 hard.

2 inured, insensible, obtuse. See hard.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR callous ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR callous

1 soft.

2 sensitive.

SEE MORE ANTONYMS FOR callous ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

cal·lous·ly, adverbcal·lous·ness, nounun·cal·lous, adjectiveun·cal·lous·ly, adverb

un·cal·lous·ness, noun

Can be confusedcallous callus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for callously

And in places where fundamentalism is most severe, women are callously repressed.
The True Muslim Revolutionaries and Their Fight Against Extremism|Timothy Michael Law|August 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
So were the Pakistanis: Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Army chief, said the men had been “callously targeted.”
A Former Ambassador to Pakistan Speaks Out|Tara McKelvey|November 20, 2012|DAILY BEAST
It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off.
Toxic, Callous, and Lacking Leadership. Welcome to Goldman Sachs.|Noah Kristula-Green|March 14, 2012|DAILY BEAST
No matter how callously defined, neither America's interests -- nor the world's -- are served by the denial of human aspirations.
Obama's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech|Barack Obama|December 10, 2009|DAILY BEAST

He was as callously indifferent to human life and property as a human being might be with the life and property of a cockroach.
Anything You Can Do|Gordon Randall Garrett
Callously, she had struck right and left for room to get to her feet.
Marjorie Dean, College Sophomore|Pauline Lester
Oh, how can you talk so callously after such an awful experience?
The Wings of the Morning|Louis Tracy
They were discussing his fate as calmly and callously as if he had been a steer with a broken leg.
Shoe-Bar Stratton|Joseph Bushnell Ames
They were straining the limits of human endurance too callously.
The Siege of Kimberley|T. Phelan

British Dictionary definitions for callously

callous

/ (ˈkæləs) /

adjective

unfeeling; insensitive

(of skin) hardened and thickened

verb

pathol to make or become callous

Derived Formscallously, adverbcallousness, noun

Word Origin for callous

C16: from Latin callōsus; see callus

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for callously

callous

adj.

c.1400, "hardened," in the physical sense, from Latin callosus "thick-skinned," from callus, callum "hard skin" (see callus). The figurative sense of "unfeeling" appeared in English by 1670s. Related: Callously; callousness.

callous

adjective

verb (used with or without object)

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of callous

Examples from the Web for callously

British Dictionary definitions for callously

callous

adjective

verb

Word Origin for callous

Word Origin and History for callously

callous

Medicine definitions for callously

callous

adj.