How to Use callous in a Sentence

callous

adjective
Definition of callousnext
Synonyms for callousnext
  • Patient, cold and callous, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats.
    — Dylan Thomas, "A Child's Christmas in Wales",
  • The staffers at the El Paso Times weren’t callous or dumb.
    — Steve Almond, Longreads, 3 Apr. 2018
  • The act, at once callous and caring, will stay with me.
    — Phil Klay, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2024
  • Michel, a tall, dark, and handsome stranger who may or may not be a callous killer.
    — Deanna Janes, Harper's BAZAAR, 27 June 2023
  • Hands bleed and callous, muscles tear, oars can snap back and crack a rib.
    — Eric Andersson, Peoplemag, 24 Dec. 2023
  • The piece was callous at best, and downright cruel at worst.
    — Matt Calkins, The Seattle Times, 11 Sep. 2018
  • Let cuttings callous over for 48 hours and then root in damp sand or soil.
    — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 24 Jan. 2020
  • The misshapen dwarf imagines that the callous little princess loves him.
    — Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2020
  • And to some fans, the Stones launching a tour just a month after Watts’ death felt a little callous.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2021
  • Nestlé and Cargill could risk sounding baldly callous in the Supreme Court next week.
    — Vivienne Walt, Fortune, 26 Nov. 2020
  • And yet Bachmann can’t help but go back to the jealous and callous Frisch, trying her best to make things work.
    — Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2023
  • Frozen alum John Riddle could melt hearts with his smooth vocals, even as the callous Cal.
    — Dave Quinn, Peoplemag, 14 Dec. 2022
  • Which means that Amandine is callous and unkind and Jamie is snappish and blunt to a fault.
    — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 10 Nov. 2022
  • Prune a shrub, and the shrub will produce a callous around the wound, and likely stimulate new growth below the cut.
    — David M. Kuchta, Treehugger, 4 May 2023
  • Lewis cannot seem to conceive that perhaps this kid was just a cruel and callous piece of work.
    — Jacob Bacharach, The New Republic, 12 Oct. 2023
  • The bride's dismissing her phone call was callous, yes.
    — Washington Post, 26 Nov. 2021
  • Allow the plant’s wound to callous and watch over the course of several weeks as new roots emerge and find their way into the soil.
    — Sunset, 22 Jan. 2018
  • The post drew a backlash from Internet users who called it callous, and it was taken down on the same day.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 4 May 2021
  • Andy was a one-of-a-kind man, and for two individuals to take his life in such a cold and callous way is sick.
    — Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2023
  • Watching one more -- not just one -- but one more black man murdered in the most callous and public way.
    — Sandee Lamotte, CNN, 7 June 2020
  • Pankratz, in addition to coming across cold and callous, may not be too bright.
    — Jack Kelly, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2022
  • Turbo died because of the callous act, and Benji is fighting for his life.
    — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE.com, 2 Aug. 2021
  • Speaker Aaron Adams said Floyd’s murder was cold, calm and callous.
    — Sara Tabin, The Salt Lake Tribune, 25 May 2021
  • After Duke was criticized for being callous, the school dropped the suit.
    — Douglas Belkin, WSJ, 6 Mar. 2018
  • Pick off a leaf and let the end where it was attached develop a callous by leaving it exposed to air.
    — Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Nov. 2019
  • To begin a debate about guns in the hours after a tragedy may have been callous in another era.
    — James Hamblin, The Atlantic, 2 Oct. 2017
  • There are great, brave people out there trying to protect us, even the callous idiots.
    — Nick Canepa Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Aug. 2020
  • The next day, Jennifer seems like her usual selfish, callous self.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 21 Sep. 2019
  • The key asset of Russia’s forces now is persistence - dogged and callous.
    — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 19 Feb. 2024
  • My father is the only son of a callous mother and an absent father.
    — Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The New Yorker, 18 Jan. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'callous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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