callow
5
8.4
- adjective
- /ˈkæloʊ/
:
inexperto
- More to the point, like Kora, Williams was callow, awakened from a perilous innocence and false security by Death, a force of implacable and sudden aggression that left him reeling.
Examples
-
Don't be callow, Toby, we're on official business.
-
I was callow and conceited.
-
Sometimes, too, feeling a little callow, he asked himself why he had never married.
Fiction book (1997) -
In those days, callow young adult that I was, neither farm nor ancestors held much meaning for me.
Fiction book (1998) -
I was sixteen years old and in some ways mature for my age, but in other ways still a young, callow kid.
Fiction book (1997) -
I was too callow to have held my tongue, taken by surprise by the preposterous suggestion.
Fiction book (1991) -
But since, I've found a quality of callow idealism which rather interests me.
-
Increasingly, I saw him through their eyes: a callow and frivolous young man with no capacity to comprehend the darkness shouting in our faces.
Fiction book (1990) -
The callow youth, Rhett, bumptious teenager, potential decathlon champion, qualifying in nine events but lacking in one.
-
The callow youth lacked the experience to handle the complicated situation.
Synonyms
141
2.8
Acting like a child instead of like an adult
108
3.5
Behaving like a child in a way that shows little emotional growth
15
6.4
Describes a person or organization that has little experience
1
9.5
Inexperienced and not fully trained, often a young person or group
Acting like a child in a simple, not serious way
Antonyms
How Inexperienced
Surface Forms
Etymology
Callow comes from an old English word calu meaning 'bald', first used for young birds without feathers. That image of a 'bald' young bird helps you remember someone 'inexperienced' or not yet grown into adult ways.