callous

[kal-uhs]

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.

Origin of callous

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

Related formscal·lous·ly, adverbcal·lous·ness, nounun·cal·lous, adjectiveun·cal·lous·ly, adverbun·cal·lous·ness, noun

Can be confusedcallous callus

Synonyms for callous

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1. hard. 2. inured, insensible, obtuse. See hard.

Antonyms for callous

1. soft. 2. sensitive.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for callousness

negligence, disdain, carelessness, inattention, apathy, lack, nonchalance, alienation, disinterest, disregard, inertia, insensitivity, callousness, savagery, brutality, cruelty, barbarism, atrocity, inhumanity, depravity

Examples from the Web for callousness

Contemporary Examples of callousness

Two basic characteristics not related to memory are apathy and indifference or callousness.
Does Donald Sterling Have Dementia? And Does That Make Him Any Less of a Racist?
Robert Silverman
May 23, 2014
Cry out against the callousness toward the first responders to the Twin Towers on 9/11.
How the Wall Street Protesters Win
Lee Siegel
October 14, 2011
Some readers were upset by the callousness of hedge fund traders.
The People's Panic
Michael Lewis
November 26, 2008

Historical Examples of callousness

Perhaps the fate of Niobe is no fable, but a type of the callousness of our nature.
Vivian Grey
Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
For all my callousness I was sick and unmanned by that which had befallen.
The Suitors of Yvonne
Raphael Sabatini
She looked at him in anger almost at what seemed a callousness.
Mistress Wilding
Rafael Sabatini
Her callousness was like a gust of wind upon the living embers of his fears.
St. Martin's Summer
Rafael Sabatini
The callousness which he displayed in saying all this deeply pained his pious father.
Melomaniacs
James Huneker

British Dictionary definitions for callousness

callous

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 callousness

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.

callousness in Medicine

callous

[kăl′əs]

adj.

Of, relating to, or characteristic of a callus or callosity.