outlier
something that lies outside the main body or group that it is a part of, such as a cow far from the rest of the herd, or a distant island belonging to a cluster of islands: The small factory was an outlier, and unproductive, so the corporation sold it off to private owners who were able to make it profitable.
someone who stands apart from other members of a group, such as by differing behavior, beliefs, or religious practices: There are a few scientists who are outliers in their views on climate change.
Statistics.
an observation that is well outside of the expected range of values in a study or experiment, and which is often discarded from the data set: Experience with a variety of data-reduction problems has led to several strategies for dealing with outliers in data sets.
a person whose abilities, achievements, etc., lie outside the range of statistical probability.
Geology. a part of a formation left detached through the removal of surrounding parts by erosion.: Compare inlier.
Obsolete. a person residing outside the place of their business, duty, etc.
Origin of outlier
1Other words for outlier
Words Nearby outlier
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use outlier in a sentence
This database should cover design projects in all sectors and domains, not just those in machine learning, and explicitly acknowledge absences and outliers.
Participation-washing could be the next dangerous fad in machine learning | Amy Nordrum | August 25, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewFirst off, they are an outlier among this year’s top defenses.
The Raptors’ Defense Is Almost Never The Same, But It’s Always Really Good | Jared Dubin | August 17, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightPut another way, states that are outliers based on some combination of the variables listed above tend to be harder to predict.
How FiveThirtyEight’s 2020 Presidential Forecast Works — And What’s Different Because Of COVID-19 | Nate Silver (nrsilver@fivethirtyeight.com) | August 12, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightMore recently, machine-learning based approaches try to identify patterns of normal activity and raise flags only when outliers are detected.
The pandemic has changed how criminals hide their cash—and AI tools are trying to sniff it out | Will Heaven | August 6, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewThis week was also a good reminder that outliers can occur in either direction.
Yes, Biden Has A Big Lead, But It’s Probably Not 15 Points | Nathaniel Rakich (nathaniel.rakich@fivethirtyeight.com) | July 16, 2020 | FiveThirtyEight
But Florida is kind of an outlier, because culturally, only the northern half of Florida is Dixie.
Egeland is something of an outlier among the worldwide community of humanitarians because he says this sort of thing out loud.
Actually, the United States is an outlier among democracies in granting such generous free speech guarantees.
In comparison to other NWO conspiracy theorists, experts say Ciancia is an outlier.
Said Fidas: “ExxonMobil remains a significant holdout with respect to LGBT equality and in many ways an outlier.”
Walmart’s New Embrace of Gay Employees a Sign of Corporate Shift | Daniel Gross | August 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIt is on this series that the Shannon rises, under the high outlier of grit on Cuilcagh.
The extreme south-east of the county includes part of the Triassic outlier of Kingscourt.
This mighty outlier was the one object which riveted our eyes, quite eclipsing the more distant glories of the Bernina.
Italian Alps | Douglas William FreshfieldIt does not reach 10,000 feet, and it is out-topped by a southern outlier, probably Monte Frerone.
Italian Alps | Douglas William FreshfieldFrom its position as an outlier of the great chain, we had expected much from the Adamello, and now we were not disappointed.
Italian Alps | Douglas William Freshfield
British Dictionary definitions for outlier
/ (ˈaʊtˌlaɪə) /
an outcrop of rocks that is entirely surrounded by older rocks
a person, thing, or part situated away from a main or related body
a person who lives away from his place of work, duty, etc
statistics a point in a sample widely separated from the main cluster of points in the sample: See scatter diagram
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
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