outskirt

[out-skurt]

noun

1. Often outskirts. the outlying district or region, as of a city, metropolitan area, or the like.

   to live on the outskirts of town; a sparsely populated outskirt.

2. Usually outskirts. the border or fringes of a specified quality, condition, or the like.

   the outskirts of respectability.

Word History and Origins

Origin of outskirt¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; out- + skirt

Example Sentences

The floods hit 78 municipalities, mostly in the southern outskirts of the city of Valencia, sweeping away 130,000 vehicles, damaging thousands of homes and generating 800,000 tonnes of debris.

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Others are closing in on its outskirts in a pincer-shaped movement, according to battlefield maps published by the Institute for the Study of War.

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The Tech Olympics take place on the outskirts of the capital Tehran, at the Pardis Technology Park -- nicknamed Iran's Silicon Valley -- where dozens of cutting-edge companies are located.

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In the outskirts of El Fasher, rebels hurl racial insults at fleeing women and children.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

His childhood in Sao Goncalo, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, was shaped by hardship and constant struggle.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• boundary 
• brink 
• corner 
• end 
• fringe 
• line 
• lip 
• margin 
• mouth 
• perimeter 
• rim 
• shore 
• threshold 
• verge