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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 come 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."
Examples of callous in a Sentence
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
Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 28 June 2025
Immigrant rights advocates say the use of tents in a remote swamp during peak summer heat shows a callous disregard for the health and dignity of detainees.
—Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 24 June 2025
Mike Belleme, New York Times, 31 May 2025
Hogan was talking about being calloused up ... those ropes hurt.
—Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 12 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for callous
Cite this Entry
“Callous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/callous. Accessed 12 Jul. 2025.
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