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.
He presented himself as a callow young culture warrior prosecuting a case against Old Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026
Price represents the societal upheaval that Turturro’s character rejects and it’s not too much of a stretch to say he’s the kind of callow 20-something who would rather watch AI slop than “Josephine.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026
I was just a callow teen when Jimmy Carter became president.
From Salon • Jan. 2, 2025
In a team largely made up of callow youth, Spencer and his fellow underdogs were organised and disciplined and too mentally strong to buckle under the pressure Scotland put on them, which wasn't nearly enough.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 2024
Johnny, remembering the gawky, callow, but upstanding young leather-dresser of Fish Street, was surprised that anyone could value him so highly.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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.
