outcaste

American

[aut-kast, -kahst] / ˈaʊtˌkæst, -ˌkɑst /

noun

(in India) a person who has left or been expelled from their caste.
a person of no caste.

outcaste British

/ ˈaʊtˌkɑːst /

noun

a person who has been expelled from a caste
a person having no caste

"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

verb

(tr) to cause (someone) to lose his caste

"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 outcaste

First recorded in 1875–80; out- + caste

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:

outcaste

"From all we have heard it is probably that the time is not far distant when I shall be the real master, since the son you bore your husband has become an outcaste."

From The Outcaste by F. E. Penny

Rebecca teaches a class of small boys in the outcaste Sunday school that gives preliminary baths.

From Lighted to Lighten: the Hope of India by Alice B. Van Doren

And the younger white outcaste shall point to the queen's footprints.

From Vikram and the Vampire; Classic Hindu Tales of Adventure, Magic, and Romance by Lady Isabel Burton

He is an outcaste in every sense; in other words an outlaw.

From The Outcaste by F. E. Penny

Under the thatch of each mud-walled hovel of the outcaste village there is the same stir of the returning day.

From Lighted to Lighten: the Hope of India by Alice B. Van Doren

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