out-group

American

[out-groop] / ˈaʊtˌgrup /

noun

Sociology.

people outside one's own group, especially as considered to be inferior or alien; a group perceived as other than one's own.

out-group British

noun

sociol persons excluded from an in-group

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of out-group

First recorded in 1905–10; out- + group

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

out-group

A vice signaler typically violates moral or other standards of an out-group precisely in order to look good to the fellow members of some in-group.

From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2026

So if you decide to exclude someone from a paradigm, you have to change the rules and you have to define who is in the in-group and who is in the out-group.

From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2025

There is always an in-group and an out-group.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 28, 2023

As a result, tribalistic tendencies both reinforce allegiances among in-group members and increase animosity toward out-group members.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022

The intergroup use is between our group and some out-group.

From Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals by Sumner, William Graham

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023