outlandish
Americanadjective
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freakishly or grotesquely strange or odd, as appearance, dress, objects, ideas, or practices; bizarre.
outlandish clothes; outlandish questions.
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having a foreign appearance.
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remote from civilized areas; out-of the-way.
an outlandish settlement.
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Archaic. foreign; alien.
adjective
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grotesquely unconventional in appearance, habits, etc
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archaic foreign
Other Word Forms
- outlandishly adverb
- outlandishness noun
Etymology
Origin of outlandish
before 1000; Middle English; Old English ūtlendisc. See outland, -ish 1
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.
One of the more outlandish proposed solutions to climate change is to install orbiting fleets of mirrored satellites that can deflect sunlight, so cooling the planet.
From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026
She tries to create the most outlandish tale possible for when relaying to guests one on one how her husband perished.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
Some outsiders may have expected Tindall to make outlandish headline-grabbing statements but again, contrary to the persona, the softly-spoken Londoner was anything but box office.
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
If MSG Sports splits up, a possible scenario is that an outside investor buys a minority stake in one of the team owners at some outlandish premium and injects fresh capital.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 8, 2026
It’s even proposed that the grotesques in medieval art may have been influenced by Ad Herennium s advice on the use of outlandish images to nail an idea in memory.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.