outsider
Americannoun
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outsiders
plural
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a person not belonging to a particular group, set, party, etc..
Society often regards the artist as an outsider.
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a person unconnected or unacquainted with the matter in question.
Not being a parent, I was regarded as an outsider.
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a racehorse, sports team, or other competitor not considered likely to win or succeed.
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a person or thing not within an enclosure, boundary, etc.
noun
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a person or thing excluded from or not a member of a set, group, etc
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a contestant, esp a horse, thought unlikely to win in a race
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(in the north) a person who does not live in the Arctic regions
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of outsider
Explanation
An outsider is a stranger — someone who doesn't fit in, or someone who observes a group from afar. An outsider stands outside the group, looking in. If you go through high school without belonging to any particular group — you're not a jock, a nerd, or an artist, for example — you might feel like an outsider. Having a brand new job can also put you in the position of being an outsider, especially if you have no experience in the profession. To an outsider, the way a busy restaurant works might seem chaotic and random, for example. To an insider, on the other hand, it might all make perfect sense.
Vocabulary lists containing outsider
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The Book of Job
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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:
Senior move managers are especially good when you need an outsider to force decisions about possessions you no longer need.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
Almost performatively indifferent to fame, McCarthy instead tended to the myth, nurtured all his life, that he was a loner and outsider.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
"It still made me feel a bit of an outsider," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Maybe it’s that lead singer Morrissey’s outsider mentality and melancholic words resonate with the demographic — or there’s something acutely relatable about the melodramatic musings of a romantic yearner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
I’d set the camera on the windowsill, so it was like an outsider was watching Mummy.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
Many said they were excited by promises of 60,000 direct and indirect jobs from the refinery alongside a training centre for 1,000 young people, even if they worry these will mainly benefit outsiders.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
They were outsiders, and most of the squad were still based in their domestic league.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the country had changed, opening itself to business, investment and outsiders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Some outsiders were even more forthright with their skepticism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
It was teasing, maybe, but not the kind you use on outsiders.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
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.
