outlier

noun

out·​li·​er ˈau̇t-ˌlī(-ə)r 

1

: a person whose residence and place of business are at a distance

His house was a place of refuge for outliers.

2

: something (such as a geologic feature) that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body

The island is an outlier on the southeast side of the archipelago.

3

a

: a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample

Values that are outliers give disproportionate weight to larger over smaller values.

b

: a person or thing that is atypical within a particular group, class, or category

She was an outlier when she launched her cruelty-free, sustainably minded brand in 2001, but has found the centre of gravity shifting in her direction.

—Jess Cartner-Morley

Among the world's wealthy nations, the United States is an outlier on this issue: Americans have the lowest national minimum wage, relative to the median wage, of any of the wealthy nations represented in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

—Christopher Ingraham

Examples of outlier in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

We are conditioned to compare ourselves to others but why only with the outliers in one direction? —Bill Hoogterp, Fortune, 19 Oct. 2025

The last few winters have featured several snow outliers across the country, including record-breaking snow in the south in late January 2025 that turned deadly and a snow drought in the northeast that lasted more than 700 days and ended for some in 2024. —ABC News, 18 Oct. 2025

The complaint repeatedly references how Ohio is an outlier in the NIL space. —Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 18 Oct. 2025

In today’s world, the Jeep remains an authentic and unpretentious outlier. —Robert Ross, Robb Report, 17 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1606, in the meaning defined at sense 3b