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

The Horned Frogs had one of the worst rushing offenses in the country last year, but are hopeful that was just an outlier. —Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Aug. 2025

But such production is an outlier for a quartet that is batting .234 with 32 homers and 103 RBIs since June 13 — a 43-game span in which the Mets are 18-25 while scoring 173 runs, tied for the fourth-fewest in the majors with the Twins, with whom no playoff contender wants to be compared. —Jerry Beach, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025

This was no blip: The poor showing likely wasn’t an outlier that will be followed by a resumption of healthy job gains in the months ahead, economists told USA TODAY. —Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 4 Aug. 2025

But both those decisions are outliers nationally, and the Eighth Circuit remains the only federal appellate court to read the law so narrowly. —Nina Totenberg, NPR, 24 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1606, in the meaning defined at sense 3b