callousness

English

Etymology

From callous +‎ -ness.

Noun

callousness (usually uncountable, plural callousnesses)

1. The quality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference.

   Synonyms: callosity, hardheartedness, insensitivity

   Fred was known for his callousness; local panhandlers had long since learned not to try their sob stories on him.

   • 1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Soul of Laploshka”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 69:

     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.

   • 2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR‎:

     "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."

2. The quality of having calluses.

Translations

quality of being callous; emotional hardheartedness or indifference

Dutch: ongevoeligheid (nl) f Finnish: kylmäverisyys (fi), kylmäsydämisyys (fi) French: insensibilité (fr) Galician: insensibilidade (gl), desconsideración (gl), indiferenza, desdén German: Gefühllosigkeit (de) f, Unempfindlichkeit (de) f, Abgebrühtheit f, Herzlosigkeit (de) f, Kaltschnäuzigkeit (de) f Gothic: 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌴𐌹 f (daubei), 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌸𐌰 f (daubiþa), 𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍄𐌴𐌹 (harduhairtei) Greek: Ancient: πώρωσις f (pṓrōsis) Hindi: संवेदनहीनता f (samvednahīntā), उदासीनता (hi) f (udāsīntā), अनुरागहीनता f (anurāghīntā) Irish: cruachroíocht f Polish: bezduszność (pl) f, znieczulica (pl) f Russian: бесчу́вственность (ru) f (besčúvstvennostʹ) Turkish: katılık (tr)

quality of having calluses

Finnish: känsäisyys (fi) German: Schwieligkeit f Spanish: callosidad (es) Turkish: nasırlılık