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

Bluey was the outlier, putting up another monster week with just under 1.1B minutes viewed, good enough for third place. —Katie Campione, Deadline, 2 Jan. 2025

In Flaherty’s case, writing was just one symptom — the twinkling outlier — in a horrific constellation. —Molly Young, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2024

Ramsey isn’t necessarily an outlier, but his view isn’t shared by everyone either. —Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times, 28 Dec. 2024

Wildlife officials are trying to determine whether bird flu poses a high mortality risk for mountain lions or if the two deaths are outliers. —Andy Biggs, Newsweek, 24 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1606, in the meaning defined at sense 3b