have a thick skin

1. To have the ability to ignore verbal attacks or criticism from others. If you're going to pursue a career in politics, you need to have a thick skin so that the criticism of your detractors doesn't bother you. A: "Don't their jokes bother you?" B: "No, I have a pretty thick skin." You have to deal with rejection all the time in Hollywood, and you will not make it unless you have a thick skin.

2. To be unaware of or indifferent to other people's needs or interests. Ethel has a thick skin, so I'm not surprised she didn't see how unhappy you were. Wow, I must have a thick skin because I didn't even notice you were crying. I'm so sorry, what's wrong? Hey, you can't have a thick skin if you're going to be a therapist. You need to be able to empathize with your clients and pick up on their emotional cues!

have a thick (or thin) skin

be insensitive (or oversensitive) to criticism or insults.

have a thick skin

1. To be slow to take offense.

2. To be insensitive to the needs or concerns of others.

thick skin, to have a

To be insensitive to shame, reproof, slander, or criticism. The transfer of a tough epidermis to mental toughness is ancient, appearing in the writings of the Roman orator Cicero, among others. Carlyle wrote in Frederick the Great (1858), “Voltaire was a fool not to have thicker skin.” The opposite is meant by having a thin skin—that is, being hypersensitive to reproof or criticism, or being easily hurt. This usage dates from the late 1600s.