outlier

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 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.

3a : 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 That unit has enough equity this season to chalk up last week as an outlier and not something to be worried about down the road. — Stephen Means, cleveland, 6 Nov. 2021 In a different call with analysts in August, a Carvana executive discussed the North Carolina sanction as an outlier. — Mike Colias, WSJ, 22 Oct. 2021 Advocates for reforming conservatorships view that case as an outlier. — Mallory Moench, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Oct. 2021 That means that this 2021 version, an October fill-in for the regular March event forced by the pandemic, will be labeled forever as an outlier. — Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2021 Anything else is likely rated as an outlier, oftentimes referred to as an edge or corner case. — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 14 Sep. 2021 But there's little evidence in the book of the author as an outlier. — Amy Brady, Scientific American, 9 Sep. 2021 Lawmakers on Tuesday finalized legislation to raise the minimum age to get married in the state from 14 to 16, a decision that would end the state’s status as an outlier compared to surrounding states. — From Usa Today Network And Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 19 Aug. 2021 And though her case is believed to be an outlier, Sutula’s odyssey is a demonstration that legal cannabis operations do run the risk of unwanted attention from law enforcement. — Chris Roberts, Forbes, 1 Nov. 2021

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.