as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
was so thick-skinned that she was clueless about the fact that the joke had hurt her friend's feelings
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Recent Examples of thick-skinned
Fishman’s job had been to promote the tiny, thick-skinned species of the fruit that grows wild in Maine, as iconic a state delicacy as lobster.
—
Staff Author,
Travel + Leisure,
8 June 2026
The trunk, in the manner of succulent trees at large, is technically a caudex or thick-skinned water storage structure, which, in this case, is also the principal photosynthesizing or food-producing organ of the tree.
—
Joshua Siskin,
Oc Register,
20 Dec. 2025
Southerners like to use these thick-skinned grapes for preserves and wines.
—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
3 Oct. 2025
It is made from the thick-skinned Lambrusco di Grasparossa, whose high acid keeps the wine balanced and avoids its being cloyingly sweet from its 48 grams/liter residual sugar.
—
John Mariani,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
The formidable thick-skinned, long-furred beast occupied the mammoth steppe, a cold-dry grassland biome that existed during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).
—
Conor Feehly,
Discover Magazine,
26 June 2024
Its small, thick-skinned berries make wine with strong tannins and high acidity, two components that aide in Cabernet Sauvignon’s ability to age.
—
Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen,
Robb Report,
28 Mar. 2024
Tannat: Its roots are in southern France, but Tannat has now become the calling card for Uruguay’s wine industry, which prizes the thick-skinned grape for its drought and heat tolerance.
—
Senior Wine Critic,
San Francisco Chronicle,
16 Aug. 2019
Staff Author,
Travel + Leisure,
8 June 2026
The trunk, in the manner of succulent trees at large, is technically a caudex or thick-skinned water storage structure, which, in this case, is also the principal photosynthesizing or food-producing organ of the tree.
—
Joshua Siskin,
Oc Register,
20 Dec. 2025
Southerners like to use these thick-skinned grapes for preserves and wines.
—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
3 Oct. 2025
It is made from the thick-skinned Lambrusco di Grasparossa, whose high acid keeps the wine balanced and avoids its being cloyingly sweet from its 48 grams/liter residual sugar.
—
John Mariani,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
The formidable thick-skinned, long-furred beast occupied the mammoth steppe, a cold-dry grassland biome that existed during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).
—
Conor Feehly,
Discover Magazine,
26 June 2024
Its small, thick-skinned berries make wine with strong tannins and high acidity, two components that aide in Cabernet Sauvignon’s ability to age.
—
Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen,
Robb Report,
28 Mar. 2024
Tannat: Its roots are in southern France, but Tannat has now become the calling card for Uruguay’s wine industry, which prizes the thick-skinned grape for its drought and heat tolerance.
—
Senior Wine Critic,
San Francisco Chronicle,
16 Aug. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for thick-skinned
Adjective
-
Canadian quartet Truck Violence have been sloshing together these subgenres in a ruthless manner for several years now, and their sophomore album and debut for the Flenser aims for even higher drops between those peaks and valleys.
-
There was relative peace for 11 years, until a second civil war erupted in 1983, when leaders in Khartoum imposed sharia (Islamic) law and accelerated repression of the southern Christian rebels, which ultimately allowed a ruthless military officer, Omar al-Bashir, to come to power in 1989.
Adjective
-
The poem that precedes it, the Iliad, is a cruel and beautiful work, the ultimate story of war; the Odyssey has its warlike passages, but its central energies seem almost commonplace beside the merciless fury of Achilles.
-
Humility is the posture; the standard is merciless.
Adjective
-
Oscar Wilde, for example, reposes beneath a hulking deity whose iconoclastic castration, back in 1961, did little to restrain pilgrims seeking to smear red lips across his stony physique.
-
Instead of looking like a sleek urban loft, the room can quickly start to feel cold, stony, and impersonal.
Cite this Entry
“Thick-skinned.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thick-skinned. Accessed 26 Jun. 2026.
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