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.
There was a callousness about his exit and the brutal words about him from Desmond.
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2026
We knew this from past cross-country trips, but we felt surprised all over again—perhaps because of the callousness we perceive among people we see in the news.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025
As Kilgore, Duvall captures this callousness in a famous scene.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2025
But on the compound, it also encourages a certain callousness, a willingness to not intervene when the worst happens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2025
But I got used to that too—the callousness of powerful people and the way they didn’t care what was fair.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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.
