WORD OF THE DAY: Outlier
Part of speech: Noun
Origin: English; 17th century
Definitions: A person or thing considered atypical within its class or category; a location or feature positioned far away from other, related locations or features; a statistical value that’s distinctly different in value from other values in the sample.
Examples of Outlier in a sentence
“Suri got an A on the exam, but she was definitely an outlier.”
“The island was an outlier from the others in the area, several miles from the rest.”
About Outlier
The reasons for the existence of certain outliers can be surprising and difficult to trace. For example, journalist Malcolm Gladwell found that the vast majority of Canadian ice hockey players who made it to the pro level were born in the first few months of the year. Why? Because when they’re children, their age-based leagues make them the oldest in their group– and the biggest. This results in more attention and support from coaches.
Did you Know?
Outlier was originally used to describe stone that was mined from a quarry but not used.
