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definitions

callous

[kal-uhs]
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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.

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RELATED WORDS

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

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

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR callous ON THESAURUS.COM
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. 2019

Examples from the Web for callousness

Contemporary Examples of callousness

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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Medicine definitions for callousness

callous

[kăl′əs]

adj.

Of, relating to, or characteristic of a callus or callosity.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.