callow
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Lacking life experience.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kalohSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkæloʊ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
zoologyfigurative
Lacking life experience; immature, inexperienced, naive; also, of or relating to something immature or inexperienced.
zoologyornithology
Of a young bird, or (part of) its body: having not developed feathers yet; featherless, unfledged; hence, of other animals or their bodies: having no fur or hair; furless, hairless, unfurred.
zoologyby extension
In the life cycle of an animal: newly born or hatched; juvenile.
Of a person: having no hair; bald, bare, hairless.
ireland
Of land: low-lying and near a river, and thus regularly submerged.
noun
ireland
A low-lying meadow near a river which is regularly submerged.
entomology
Synonym of teneral ("an insect or other arthropod such as a spider which has just undergone ecdysis ("shedding of the exoskeleton") and so lacks colour or firmness").
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (figurative) Lacking life experience; immature, inexperienced, naive; also, of or relating to something immature or inexperienced.
Used this way, callow is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.