as in ruthless
having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings
the callous comment "It's just a fish," when the boy's pet died, made him cry
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Recent Examples of callous
Eleven more people were injured in what the local sheriff called a particularly callous and brutal crime.
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Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 1 Dec. 2025
Marissa is more likely to, in another story, bring charges against Jenny and try and find someone to house all her frustrations, fears, horror, grief; all of that could be lumped upon Jenny in a callous and retaliatory way.
—Ronda Racha Penrice, HollywoodReporter, 12 Nov. 2025
All of these men who toiled in the early part of the 20th century lived and loved and paved the way for a nation, one callous and blister at a time.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 Nov. 2025
These political executions are a callous attempt by the authorities to frighten and silence an increasingly restive population no longer willing to accept their corrupt and oppressive rule.
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 6 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for callous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for callous
Adjective
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But he's drawn into a deadly Colombian drama involving a new ruthless arms dealer posing as a humanitarian, Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), and Roxana (Camila Morrone), an American businesswoman.—
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As Iranians know well from 1979, ruthless contests tend to define revolutions.—
Adjective
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With a merciless 56-22 thumping of Oregon in the Peach Bowl, the Hoosiers punched their ticket to their first national championship game appearance in program history.—
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All the while, the president, his top advisers, and his public-affairs offices have pumped out rhetoric and imagery that celebrates the merciless, military-style pursuit of deportations.—
Adjective
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Without prosecutors empowered to bring charges against wrongdoers, judges willing to strike down overreach, legislators daring enough to demand investigations and change laws, and citizens outraged enough to protest, any revelations by journalists will fall on stony ground.—
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After that historic journey, NASA charted a new course toward Apophis, a stony metal-rich NEA that offers a sharp scientific contrast to Bennu's carbon-rich composition (and was once thought to pose a serious impact risk to Earth).—
Cite this Entry
“Callous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/callous. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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