outgroup

English

Etymology

From out- +‎ group.

Noun

outgroup (plural outgroups)

1. (sociology) The group of people who do not belong to one's own social group.
2. (systematics) In cladistics, all the taxa included in a study that do not belong to the ingroup that is of immediate interest.
   • 2009 January 15, Martin D. Brazeau, “The braincase and jaws of a Devonian 'acanthodian' and modern gnathostome origins”, Nature Volume 457 No. 7227, doi:10.1038/nature07436:

     A cladistic analysis of 45 ingroup and two outgroup taxa was performed on the basis of 134 characters.

   • 2012, Dongyou Liu, Molecular Detection of Human Parasitic Pathogens, page 293:

     To study the genetic relationships among diphyllobothroid tapeworms, other members of the Diphyllobothriidae are considered, with T. solium as the outgroup.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “systematics”): ingroup
• (antonym(s) of “sociology”): ingroup

Verb

outgroup (third-person singular simple present outgroups, present participle outgrouping, simple past and past participle outgrouped)

1. To form an outgroup.