callous
Other forms: calloused; callouses; callousing
A callous person is insensitive or emotionally hardened. If you laugh at your little sister while she's trying to show you her poetry, you're being callous.
Callous comes from the Latin root callum for hard skin. If you walk barefoot a lot, your feet will become calloused. We often use callous, as an adjective or a verb, in the metaphorical sense for emotionally hardened. If someone is unmoved by other people's problems, you might say he shows a callous indifference to human suffering or that his heart has been calloused by his own problems.
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emotionally hardened“a callous indifference to suffering”synonyms: indurate, pachydermatousinsensitivedeficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive
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having calluses; having skin made tough and thick through wear
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an area of skin that is thick or hard from continual pressure or friction (as the sole of the foot)
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make insensitive or callous; deaden feelings or morals
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callus / callous
Vocabulary lists containing callous
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