adjective
-
lacking experience of life; immature
-
rare (of a young bird) unfledged and usually lacking feathers
noun
Other Word Forms
- callowness noun
Etymology
Origin of callow
First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English calu “bald”; cognate with Dutch kaal, German kahl “bald,” Old Church Slavonic golŭ “bare”
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.
As with the proverbial frog in that pot of water, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s chilling action-thriller “Cloud,” about a callow internet hustler’s reckoning, has nothing good to offer about where online anonymity and e-capitalism have gotten us.
From Los Angeles Times
Not since Zimbabwe's last Test in this country 22 years ago has England's pace attack looked so callow at home, when Steve Harmison, James Anderson and Richard Johnson had a combined seven caps.
From BBC
As he attempted to build a young team with sell-on value in the future while remaining competitive in the present, his team was callow, inconsistent and flaky.
From BBC
I was just a callow teen when Jimmy Carter became president.
From Salon
Quayle’s stricken look — a rictus of shock and humiliation — spoke to the devastation of the rejoinder after which, it’s fair to say, his callow image never fully faded.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
