on the outside, looking in
1
8.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
sentirse excluido
- When the team made its final decisions, I realized I was on the outside, looking in, missing out on the excitement.
Examples
-
The United States is the only major country that has failed to ratify UNCLOS, and Washington is therefore left on the outside looking in as a nonmember to various legal and technical bodies.
Academic text (2008) -
The first young Jews to be drawn to Russian culture were on the outside looking in.
Academic text (1991) -
- You don't even realize everyone on the outside looking in.
-
As Jews began to enter Russian life in large numbers, the picture of Jews on the outside looking in was replaced by a scheme of Jews on the inside looking out.
Academic text (1991) -
Racial minority students, perhaps, have learned certain coping skills that allow them to achieve even when they attend schools that do not provide them with emotional support, where they may feel on the outside looking in.
Academic text (2008) -
The students who emerged as discipline and achievement problems, low achievers, and the unwanted found themselves on the outside looking in at the rest of the school.
Academic text (1991) -
Stimulated by Alfie Kohn's observations concerning the misuse or even abuse of research in the educational community, the author looks back over a lengthy career in academe and laments that the discipline of education is still on the outside looking in.
Academic text (2008) -
After not being invited to the party, I felt like I was on the outside, looking in as everyone else celebrated.
-
Seeing my friends' pictures from the concert made me feel on the outside, looking in on all the fun they were having.
Synonyms
119
3.6
Feeling sad because others do not include you
63
3.5
Feeling uncomfortable because you do not belong in a place or situation
19
7.2
Feeling left out of a group or activity
16
7.4
Left out by a group of people
Antonyms
How Included
Surface Forms
Morphology
on + the + outside, + looking + in
The phrase literally describes being 'on the outside' and 'looking in,' so a learner who knows 'outside' and 'in' can infer the spatial image of exclusion. This spatial/compositional mapping to the figurative sense 'feeling excluded' is common across languages, making the meaning readily derivable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
The phrase on the outside, looking in paints the image of someone standing on the outside and looking in through a window or door at a group having fun. So it describes 'feeling excluded' or 'not part'.