outlier

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noun out·li·er \ ˈau̇t-ˌlī(-ə)r \

Definition of outlier

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 geological 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 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.

Recent Examples of outlier from the Web

Out of the three releases, the Dunk was the outlier.

— jake woolf, GQ, "The Nike Dunk Is Now a Perfect Summer Sneaker," 1 Aug. 2017
The outlier is Seattle, where housing prices, average incomes and rainfall totals are much higher than in Sacramento.

— hudson sangree and phillip reese, sacbee, "See which cities in other states get the most Sacramento transplants," 21 July 2017
Windows XP's longevity was something of an outlier in the world of PC operating systems, still seeing significant adoption a decade after its launch.

— kyle orland, Ars Technica, "Windows XP, Vista buried by Blizzard," 20 July 2017
Indy is a bit of an outlier on the list, though, with the majority of the top 25 cities being much larger (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago) or located in the southwest, where Mexican food is almost a way of life.

— joe tamborello, Indianapolis Star, "Tacos vs. burritos: The fight on Mexican food-rich Indianapolis menus," 17 July 2017
The president’s daughter was a noticeable outlier at the table, an unelected and inexperienced representative sitting beside Chinese President Xi Jinping, British Prime Minister Theresa May, and Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

— politifact, Teen Vogue, "Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. Contradict the Truth, Too," 15 July 2017
George Hobica, founder and editor of Airfarewatchdog, says that Delta is indeed an outlier.

— andrew sessa, CNT, "Delta Air Lines Upgrades Just Got Easier and More Affordable," 14 July 2017
The other study looked at more than 185,000 African Americans, Native Americans, Hawaiians, Japanese-Americans, Latinos, and Caucasians, and found that, in most cases, drinking coffee was linked to a longer life (Hawaiians were the only outliers).

— korin miller, SELF, "Coffee Is Great, But That Alone Is Not Going to Extend Your Life," 12 July 2017
The 3,120-parts-per-billion sample recorded at a first-floor sink was an outlier among other negative results but is still 624 times the state threshold.

— rafael guerrero, Elgin Courier-News, "High lead levels found in District U46 drinking water," 10 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'outlier.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.