callous

adjective cal·lous \ ˈka-ləs \

|Updated on: 15 Jun 2018

Examples: callous in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of callous

1 a : being hardened and thickened

b : having calluses

callous hands

2 a : feeling no emotion

b : feeling or showing no sympathy for others : hard-hearted

a callous indifference to suffering

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callously

adverb

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callousness

noun

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Examples of callous in a Sentence

… under Orton's own companionable charm there was something hard and callous, the result no doubt of a loveless upbringing … —Benedict Nightingale, New York Times Book Review, 10 May 1987
… the scenes involving the snotty, callous dean ring false right from the start … —Pauline Kael, New Yorker, 8 Apr. 1985
Patient, cold and callous, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. —Dylan Thomas, "A Child's Christmas in Wales," in Quite Early One Morning, 1954
a selfish and callous young man
a callous refusal to help the poor

Recent Examples of callous from the Web

Through the season’s last moments, Villanelle remains cold, calculating, and callous.

— hannah giorgis, The Atlantic, "Killing Eve and the Riddle of Why Women Kill," 28 May 2018
To others, the cases are not meant to achieve public policy goals, but as a balm for grieving families or punishment for a callous act.

— rosa goldensohn, Anchorage Daily News, "They shared drugs. Someone died. Who is responsible?," 25 May 2018
The court finds this crime was horrific, callous, calculated and totally outweighs any testimony about a chaotic childhood.

— heather nolan, NOLA.com, "Life sentence for teen who stabbed 15-year-old 49 times wasn't unconstitutional: appeals court," 25 May 2018
Women's lives are on the line, and this latest policy is a crystal clear sign of the Trump administration's callous disregard for them.

— lauren rankin, Allure, "What Trump's "Domestic Gag Rule" Would Mean for Reproductive Health Care," 18 May 2018
There are limits to how spectacular and abstract these deaths can be, particularly if the heroes seem callous about them.

— constance grady, Vox, "How the ending of Avengers: Infinity War finds power in cheap spectacle," 4 May 2018
Doctors also described Smith as callous, uncaring, manipulative and lacking empathy.

— Fox News, "Judge sentences man to death for Florida girl's rape, murder," 2 May 2018
But providing people with genetic information suggesting that their hearts are menaced without also offering them possible ways to stave off that threat seems callous.

— gretchen reynolds, New York Times, "To Slash Your Risk of Heart Disease, Keep Moving," 18 Apr. 2018
These were sites of brutal treatment and unbearable sorrow, as callous and avaricious slave traders tore apart families, separating husbands from wives, and children from their parents.

— jonathan w. white, Smithsonian, "When Emancipation Finally Came, Slave Markets Took on a Redemptive Purpose," 27 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'callous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

A callus is a hard, thickened area of skin that develops usually from friction or irritation over time. Such a hardened area often leaves one less sensitive to the touch, so it's no surprise that the adjective callous, in addition to describing skin that is hard and thick, can also be used as a synonym for "harsh" or "insensitive." Both callus and callous derive via Middle English from Latin. The figurative sense of callous entered English almost 300 years after the literal sense, and Robert Louis Stevenson used it aptly when he wrote, in Treasure Island, "But, indeed, from what I saw, all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed on."