How to Use calloused in a Sentence

calloused

adjective
  • His hands were strong and calloused and so much bigger than mine.
    — Gemma Hartley, Glamour, 1 Apr. 2020
  • Beyond calloused hands and sore backs, the job comes with a pay cut.
    — CBS News, 12 Oct. 2021
  • His hands were deeply calloused and rough, like a barefoot runner’s feet.
    — Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2019
  • The nonstop work had left his shoulder buckled and hands calloused.
    — Serenitie Wang, CNN, 17 June 2022
  • My dirty hands became more heavily calloused and my work boots quickly wore out.
    — Los Angeles Times, 17 July 2022
  • Granddaddy holds the edges of the newspaper tight in his thick, calloused hands.
    — Seija Rankin, EW.com, 2 Feb. 2022
  • Hunt plucked the key from his palm, which was noticeably soft, not the calloused palm of a fisherman.
    — Elliot Ackerman, Wired, 26 Jan. 2021
  • Magic booties that transform rough and calloused feet into, well, feet that are as soft and smooth as a baby's?
    — Sarah Han, Allure, 24 Sep. 2021
  • This is cooking for millennials, who lack the calloused fingers or grit of an old-time cook.
    — Bee Wilson, WSJ, 30 Nov. 2018
  • His calloused hand pulled his baseball cap low against the Louisiana sun, then followed the cane down to where the stalk emerged from dirt.
    — Ted Jackson, NOLA.com, 20 Aug. 2017
  • Broken eggs placed in bed as a prank are an excuse for Heathcliff to let the goo drip suggestively across his calloused hand.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 11 Feb. 2026
  • The stance could be misconstrued as either overly optimistic or calloused.
    — Mike Jones, USA TODAY, 31 Mar. 2020
  • Deliberately, l avert my gaze as thick woody fingers interlace like calloused hands in prayer.
    — Manuel Muñoz, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Jacoby slowly stripped off the dressing, revealing the wound, which was rimmed with thick, yellow calloused skin.
    — AZCentral.com, 10 June 2021
  • Considering all Dygert has endured, no athlete is more calloused.
    — David Woods, The Indianapolis Star, 26 Sep. 2020
  • The assailant was described as a male, 25 to 40 yrs old, wearing dark pants and a black hoodie, with rough and calloused hands.
    — Christopher Roth, azcentral, 24 Apr. 2020
  • There are plenty of examples of experience changing the body, from calloused feet to bulging biceps.
    — Carl Zimmer, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2018
  • However, the brand of calloused machismo Phil projects doesn't land as wholly authentic.
    — Thomas Page, CNN, 19 Sep. 2021
  • Santa seemed deeply exhausted, and his calloused fingers were evidence.
    — Lauren Ashley Bishop, Variety, 4 Jan. 2026
  • The Knights are calloused, legitimate.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 23 May 2026
  • Fingers bruised from lifting boxes on the warehouse floor, palms calloused from delivery bike handlebars, knuckles scarred with kitchen burns.
    — Time Video, Time, 5 Nov. 2025
  • After a couple of months of intense neighborhood power-walking and jogging, most athletic shoes leave the balls of my feet worn and calloused.
    — Dara Kapoor, Health.com, 20 Aug. 2020
  • Despite its massive fan base, Baby Foot isn't the only exfoliator that can bring rough, calloused feet back to life.
    — Kaleigh Fasanella, Allure, 10 Sep. 2018
  • Yet over nine years of continuous war in Syria, the world has largely become calloused to violence there – no matter how grisly.
    — W.j. Hennigan, Time, 21 Feb. 2020
  • But threaded through that agricultural machinery is another, less calloused dream.
    — Spencer Elliott, Forbes.com, 19 May 2026
  • Around here, Ratboys are known among local bands and stagehands for their Midwestern kindness and good humor, with calloused hands from doing the work.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 29 Jan. 2026
  • The quaggas have forced fishermen who pride themselves on calloused hands to wear yellow dishwashing gloves to protect them from shells that shatter like shards from a fluorescent light tube.
    — Dan Egan, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 13 Aug. 2011
  • Close your eyes and Twisted Teens appear with calloused hands and dirty sweat smudges in the Louisiana humidity.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Among those benefiting is Abraham Molina, who is 36, has worked in the coal mines for 22 years and has the calloused hands to show for it.
    — Rhiannon Hoyle, WSJ, 2 Aug. 2022
  • Self, a driller by profession, was known as an earth mover, a fabricator, a welder, a framer with calloused hands but a tender touch, the Go Fund Me post said.
    — Nathan J. Fish, azcentral, 26 May 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'calloused.' 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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