callous
/ˈkæləs/
callous adjective: emotionally hardened; unfeeling and indifferent to the suffering/feelings of others. Also the alternative form of callus.
Adjective
callous (comparative more callous, superlative most callous)
- Emotionally hardened; unfeeling and indifferent to the suffering/feelings of others.
- She was so callous that she could criticise a cancer patient for wearing a wig.
- 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.2021 September 15, Laura Martin, “How talent shows became TV's most bizarre programmes”, in BBC
- Synonyms:
- heartless, insensitive, brutal, cold, insensate, hardhanded, cold-eyed, cruel, dour, thick-skinned
- Having calluses, or relating to calluses.
Also used as
callous is also the alternative form of callus.
callous meaning in Marathi
callous in Marathi
- emotionally hardened
- भावजड bhāvjaḍ
Examples of callous in a sentence
- Callous, drunkardly and unscrupulous, Mrs Gamp is the archetype of the uncaring and uneducated midwife.
- At one period I received sufficient 'smackings' to grow callous, almost careless, about them.
- The past is like a seamonster; it stretches out it’s callous arms and drags a man down—down.
Synonyms of callous
28 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of callous
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more callous |
| superlative | most callous |
| Noun | |
| plural | callouses |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | callouses |
| present participle | callousing |
| past participle | calloused |
| past | calloused |
Origin of callous
From Latin callōsus (“hard-skinned”), from callum (“hardened skin”) + -ōsus.
Words formed from callous
Words that rhyme with callous
Questions about callous
- What does callous mean?
- Callous means emotionally hardened; unfeeling and indifferent to the suffering/feelings of others.
- What is callous in Marathi?
- Callous in Marathi is भावजड (bhāvjaḍ). See Callous meaning in Marathi.
- What part of speech is callous?
- Callous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce callous?
- Callous is pronounced /ˈkæləs/ (UK).
Words near callous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: callous (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-callous.wav.
Cite this entry: “callous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/callous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.