outsider

noun

out·​sid·​er ˌau̇t-ˈsī-dər How to pronounce outsider (audio)
ˈau̇t-ˌsī-
1
: a person who does not belong to a particular group
2
chiefly British : a contender not expected to win
outsiderness noun

Examples of outsider in a Sentence

To outsiders, the ritual may seem strange. She felt like an outsider in her new school. An outsider defeated the champion! She was a rank outsider who managed to win.
Recent Examples on the Web And Rainer definitely styles himself as a shy outsider and was very much into the Magnum school of reportage. Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 15 Mar. 2024 And Glazer, a movie-industry outsider to make Scorsese look like Spielberg, used his moment of victory to render, in bluntly explicit terms, a moral argument that his movie had already laid out with quiet clarity. Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024 Gunderson is a car dealership owner running as a political outsider and stressing his real-world experience as a businessman. Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Mar. 2024 Williams is an outsider brought in to police an audit industry that collects about $5.4 billion in fees from S&P 500 companies each year, and has historically been accustomed to being overseen by friendly insiders. Dylan Sloan, Fortune, 9 Mar. 2024 In a surprise move, the Food and Drug Administration has called for a meeting of outside advisers to discuss whether an Alzheimer’s drug from Eli Lilly should be approved, even as many outsiders expected the medicine to receive regulatory clearance this month. Meghana Keshavan, STAT, 8 Mar. 2024 Proxy fights can be unpredictable, so having an activist supporting the company can serve as a bulwark against the outsiders. Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Mar. 2024 What happens when a fashion house outlives its founder? Paris Fashion Week has always centered designers from around the world, offering a creative vision of French chic from an outsider perspective, from German designer Karl Lagerfeld to Japanese creatives including Yohji Yamamoto. Alice Pfeiffer, CNN, 4 Mar. 2024 Porter, a three-term congresswoman from a swing district in Orange County, ran as an outsider looking to shake things up. Marisa Lagos, NPR, 5 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'outsider.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1800, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of outsider was in 1800

Dictionary Entries Near outsider

Cite this Entry

“Outsider.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/outsider. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

outsider

noun
out·​sid·​er (ˈ)au̇t-ˈsīd-ər How to pronounce outsider (audio)
: a person who does not belong to a particular group

More from Merriam-Webster on outsider

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