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outcast

outcast

81 5.1
A person who other people reject and avoid
  • noun
  • /ˈaʊtˌkæst/
translation icon : marginado
  • No, because people who write the truth are the outcasts of society.
  • a social outcast
  • become an outcast
  • treated as an outcast

It was hard because it made me this sort of outcast in an already outcast sport.

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Examples

  • Was my mother like that wherever she lived back East, an outcast, an anomaly?

    Fiction book (1999)
  • But even there he was an outcast.

  • Would you have him go through life as an outcast, Rose?

  • I think to go from being the outcast to being, uh, who he really was.

  • I'll be a social outcast for the rest of my life!

  • She is made to feel like an outcast in her own community.

  • It was hard because it made me this sort of outcast in an already outcast sport.

  • The little group, all disheveled men and women, outcasts in every way, looked at each other.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • I found a community of people that we were just a bunch of misfits and outcasts that sort of fit together somehow.

  • She is made to feel like an outcast in her own community.

Synonyms

outsider
vsoutcast
283 4.1

A person who is not accepted by a group or community

often lacks membership but may not be actively rejected by family
alien
vsoutcast
125 4.4

A person who feels they do not belong in a group or place

captures emotional or perceived non-belonging rather than explicit rejection
pariah
vsoutcast
27 9.0

A person rejected and avoided by other people

is the general term for being rejected by family and society
leper
vsoutcast
  • Offensive
19 8.4

A person who others avoid and treat as an outsider

describes rejection by family and society without illness connotation
foreigner
vsoutcast
19 3.7

A person not accepted by a group

is not always rejected by family or friends and may just not belong
black sheep
vsoutcast
  • Offensive
15 4.8

A person who others dislike in a family or group

is family-focused shame rather than broad societal rejection
castaway
vsoutcast
13 7.2

A person left alone on a deserted island after a shipwreck or abandoned by other people

includes social rejection but primary sense is physical isolation
castoff
vsoutcast
  • Offensive
3 6.2

A person who others reject or leave out

is the common social rejection that applies to family and friends too
rejectee
vsoutcast
1 6.8

A person who is not chosen for a group or opportunity

focuses on social rejection by loved ones rather than selection refusal
Ishmael
vsoutcast
  • Literature
9.3

A person who people reject and treat as an outcast

is a general term for social rejection not a literary reference
outcaste
vsoutcast
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who is excluded from a caste or social group and treated as outside society

is broader, meaning rejection by family or society generally
religious outcast
vsoutcast
8.4

A person who is excluded from their faith group for having different beliefs

is a specific type of rejection limited to religious groups
unwelcome person
vsoutcast
5.2

A person who is not wanted in a place or group

indicates active undesirability rather than permanent social exile

Antonyms

169 5.0

A person in a company or group who knows private information

Compounds

A person who is excluded from their faith group for having different beliefs

How Accepted

insider
169 5.0
member
1.4
outsider
283 4.1
outcast
81 5.1
pariah
27 9.0

Surface Forms

outcast singular
outcasts plural

Morphology

outcast = cast (semi-transparent) = out + cast

The prefix 'out-' suggests being outside or beyond, while 'cast' means to throw. The meaning of being rejected is a metaphorical extension.

Etymology

Outcast comes from the parts out + cast, where cast means 'to throw'. Think of someone 'cast out' like a person thrown away from their community, so an outcast is a person rejected by society or family.