callous

English

Etymology

From Latin callōsus (“hard-skinned”), from callum (“hardened skin”) + -ōsus.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈkæləs/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æləs
  • Homophone: callus

Adjective

callous (comparative more callous, superlative most callous)

  2. (figurative) Emotionally hardened; unfeeling and indifferent to the suffering/feelings of others.
    Synonyms: heartless, insensitive; see also Thesaurus:stern
    She was so callous that she could criticise a cancer patient for wearing a wig.
    • 2021 September 15, Laura Martin, “How talent shows became TV's most bizarre programmes”, in BBC‎[1]:
      Re-watching some of the audition rounds of these shows now, you're struck by how callous the judges' comments often were, and how they presented a cruel spectacle in which the audience were set up to laugh at the "deluded" members of the public who believed they could sing.
  4. (literal) Having calluses, or relating to calluses.
    Synonyms: callousy, callusy, calloused, callused

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

callous (plural callouses)

  1. Alternative form of callus.
    • 1963, Lester del Rey, The Sky Is Falling:
      Hanson was beginning to feel annoyance at the suddenly cocksure and unsympathetic girl, but he stood fully erect and flexed his muscles. There wasn't even a trace of bedsoreness, though he had been flat on his back long enough to grow callouses.

Verb

callous (third-person singular simple present callouses, present participle callousing, simple past and past participle calloused)

  1. Alternative form of callus.
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