callousness
Americannoun
-
the quality of being insensitive, indifferent, or unsympathetic; hardness of heart.
Cutting off the unemployed from their benefits is a sad blend of callousness—a complete lack of empathy for the unfortunate—and unsound economics.
-
a hardened or thickened condition of the skin or other tissue.
Razors and shaving cause a callousness of the skin, which will encourage heavier hair growth and irritation.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of callousness
Explanation
Callousness is the characteristic of being insensitive or hardhearted about other people's feelings. Your sister's callousness is clear when she tells you that your new haircut looks awful. A callus, sometimes spelled callous, is a very hard, thick layer of skin that's usually found on the bottoms of your feet. When you act in a callous way, or exhibit your callousness, you could say you're "emotionally hardened." As early as 1670, this figurative meaning of callous was added to the literal definition. And callousness is a great word for the trait of being hardened against feeling empathy.
Vocabulary lists containing callousness
The Stranger
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Thirteen Reasons Why
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Richard Adams (1920-2016) Tribute List
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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.
The coverage has been driven by a simple question: should we believe Earl Spencer's claims about the King's callousness after Diana's death?
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Mr. Trump is taking note of the Mexican president’s public callousness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
It was an act of the most horrendous callousness and self-interest.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026
Jobless inertia and financial strife breed a cruelty that isn’t dissimilar from the cold strike of an employer maintaining their bottom line, cutting 100 workers with the same callousness that they’d cut 1,000.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2025
Even as the cruel words left my mouth, I felt terrible about their callousness.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
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.
