Meanings
plural callousnesses
- uncountableusuallyThe quality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference.
Fred was known for his callousness; local panhandlers had long since learned not to try their sob stories on him.
2 more examples
To have killed Laploshka was one thing; to have kept his beloved money would have argued a callousness of feeling of which I was not capable.
1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Soul of Laploshka”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 69"The image of workers who had embraced each other as concrete crushed them — that final act of human kindness in the face of death — shattered my callousness completely."
2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPRSynonyms: callosity, hardheartedness, insensitivity
- uncountableusuallyThe quality of having calluses.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe quality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference.
More synonyms by meaning
noundevoid of passion or feeling; hardheartedness
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Ancient Greek πώρωσις
- πώρωσις (pṓrōsis)quality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
Dutch ongevoeligheid
- ongevoeligheidquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
Finnish kylmäverisyys, kylmäsydämisyys
- kylmäverisyysquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- kylmäsydämisyysquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- känsäisyysquality of having calluses
French insensibilité
- insensibilitéquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
German Gefühllosigkeit, Unempfindlichkeit
- Gefühllosigkeitquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- Unempfindlichkeitquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- Abgebrühtheitquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- Herzlosigkeitquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- Kaltschnäuzigkeitquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- Schwieligkeitquality of having calluses
Hindi संवेदनहीनता, उदासीनता
- संवेदनहीनता (samvednahīntā)quality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- उदासीनता (udāsīntā)quality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- अनुरागहीनता (anurāghīntā)quality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
Irish cruachroíocht
- cruachroíochtquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
Polish bezduszność, znieczulica
- bezdusznośćquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- znieczulicaquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
Russian бесчу́вственность
- бесчу́вственность (besčúvstvennostʹ)quality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
Spanish callosidad
- callosidadquality of having calluses
Turkish katılık, nasırlılık
- katılıkquality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference
- nasırlılıkquality of having calluses
Cite this entry
callousness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/callousness
“callousness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/callousness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “callousness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/callousness.
Source: callousness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.