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 United States is not an outlier in this regard. —Ravi Kumar S, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Apr. 2026

Roughly 90% of these tumors are diagnosed in patients under 20 years old, often around the onset of puberty, making Tamura an outlier. —Rachel Hale, USA Today, 31 Mar. 2026

But for the past several years, I’ve been obsessed with a specific group of outliers while researching Outlast, my forthcoming book about the world’s oldest companies. —Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026

While there have been some outliers, bearish sentiment has largely dragged assets lower over the course of the month. —Chloe Taylor, CNBC, 31 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1606, in the meaning defined at sense 3b