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

Massie is one of a few GOP outliers critical of Trump’s decision to launch attacks against Iran. —Laura Kelly, The Hill, 23 June 2025

Youth basketball is not an outlier in its trend toward professionalization. —Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 23 June 2025

Contracts for top defencemen signed after Nurse have made his deal less of an outlier, but most of the defenders signed to big money bring more offence. —Allan Mitchell, New York Times, 18 June 2025

The White Lotus has always been something of an outlier. —Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 17 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1606, in the meaning defined at sense 3b