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The Connection Between Callow and Baldness
Although callow birds—that is, featherless, baby birds—are quite visibly (and audibly) hungry for the world beyond their nest, they are just as visibly immature, far from ready to step, or hop, into it. This meaning of callow isn’t common (we only define the word this way in our Unabridged dictionary), but it both links the word directly to its origin, the Old English word calu, meaning “bald,” and to today’s more common use in describing someone possessed of youthful naiveté. Calu eventually fledged into callow with the same “bald, hairless” meaning, but was applied to bald land too—that is, land denuded of vegetation or not producing it in the first place. By the 16th century, callow had expanded beyond the literal sense of “lacking hair or flora” to its avian use of “lacking feathers” as well as to today’s familiar application to people. Callow now is most often used to suggest the inexperience or immaturity of young people brimming with confidence but still, figuratively, unfledged.
Examples of callow in a Sentence
Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 21 Mar. 2025
The two performers effortlessly convey their characters’ callow charm, and there’s a disarming lack of to-do in the way Uttapa, at the center of the story, rides its tonal shifts as Olmo faces moments of awakening, both sublime and potentially shattering.
—Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2025
The callow roster is rapidly developing, and the wins are starting to come.
—Tony Jones, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025
In discerning and grooming the callow and shallow Donald, Roy picks up on his starrily megawatt personality, likening him to Robert Redford.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for callow
Cite this Entry
“Callow.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/callow. Accessed 20 May. 2025.
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