callow

cal·low

Use callow in a sentence

adjective

The definition of callow is someone or something immature.

A forty year old man with the maturity level of a fifteen year old is an example of callow.

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"callow." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/callow>.

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callow. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/callow

callow

still lacking the feathers needed for flying; unfledged
young and inexperienced; immature

Origin of callow

Middle English calwe from Old English calu, bare, bald from Indo-European base an unverified form gal-, bald, naked from source Classical Latin calvus, bald, Czech holý, naked, German kahl, bald

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"callow." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/callow>.

APA Style

callow. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/callow

callow

adjective

Lacking adult maturity or experience; immature: a callow young man.

Origin of callow

Middle English calwe bald from Old English calu

Related Forms:

cal′low·ness
noun

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"callow." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/callow>.

APA Style

callow. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/callow

Adjective

(comparative callower or more callow, superlative callowest or most callow)

Unfledged (of a young bird).
Immature, lacking in life experience.
Those three young men are particularly callow youths.
Lacking color or firmness (of some kinds of insects or other arthropods, such as spiders, just after ecdysis). Teneral.
Shallow or weak-willed.
Unburnt (of a brick)

Noun

(countable and uncountable, plural callows)

A callow young bird.
A callow or teneral phase of an insect or other arthropod, typically shortly after ecdysis, while the skin still is hardening, the colours have not yet become stable, and as a rule, before the animal is able to move effectively.

Origin

From Middle English calwe (“bald”), from Old English calu (“callow, bare, bald”), from Proto-Germanic *kalwaz (“bare, naked, bald”), from Proto-Indo-European *gAlw- (“naked, bald”). Cognate with West Frisian keal (“bald”), Dutch kaal (“bald”), German kahl (“bald”), Russian голый (gólyj, “nude”).