outlier

English

Alternative forms

• outlyer (dated)

Etymology

From outlie +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaʊtˌlaɪə(ɹ)/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈʌʊtˌlaɪɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

outlier (plural outliers)

1. A person or thing situated away from the main body or outside its proper place.
   • 2023 November 1, Paul Clifton, “One account for the UK railway”, in RAIL, number 995, page 47:

     Observing as an outlier from Scotland, Hynes sums up the industry problem: "The conversation we've had for this article is really about creating an environment in which better decisions can be taken, isn't it?

2. (figurative) An exception.
   • 2025 November 25, Caroline Siede, “Zootopia 2 is a stagnant sequel with one stellar subplot”, in AV Club‎^[1]:

     And in a world where police officers are mostly paired by species (zebras with zebras, hippos with hippos, etc.), Judy and Nick’s rare bunny/fox combo marks them as outliers.

3. (geology) A part of a formation separated from the rest of the formation by erosion.
4. (statistics) A value in a statistical sample which does not fit a pattern that describes most other data points; specifically, a value that lies 1.5 IQR beyond the upper or lower quartile.

Antonyms

• inlier

Derived terms

• nonoutlier
• outlierness

Translations

a person or thing situated away from the main body or outside its proper place

• Dutch: buitenbeentje (nl), alleenstaande (nl)
• Finnish: erillään oleva (adjective), ulkopuolinen (fi) ("outsider", person)
• French: cas isolé m, exception (fr) f
• German: Ausreißer (de) m, Sonderfall (de) m
• Italian: eccezione (it) f, anomalia (it) f
• Portuguese: extravagante (pt)

part of formation separate from the rest

• Azerbaijani: qalıq
• Catalan: tossal testimoni m, tossal residual m
• Dutch: uitloper (nl)
• Finnish: eroosion erottama osa
• French: lambeau (fr) m d'érosion (fr) f, butte-témoin f
• German: Zeugenberg (de) m
• Polish: ostaniec (pl) m
• Russian: остане́ц (ru) m (ostanéc)
• Spanish: cerro testigo m

value outside pattern in a statistical sample

• Dutch: uitbijter (nl)
• Finnish: poikkeava arvo, poikkeama (fi), poikkeus (fi), äärihavainto
• French: valeur (fr) f anormale (fr), donnée aberrante, extrême (fr)
• German: Ausreißer (de) m
• Indonesian: pencilan
• Lithuanian: išskirtis f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utligger (no) m

  Nynorsk: utliggjar m, utliggar m

• Russian: вы́брос (ru) m (výbros)
• Spanish: anomalía (es) f, irregularidad (es) f, anormalidad (es) f, rareza (es) f, caso aparte m, valor atípico m
• Swedish: utliggare (sv) c
• Thai: ค่าผิดปกติ

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English outlier.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /aw.t͡ʃiˈlaj.eʁ/ [aʊ̯.t͡ʃiˈlaɪ̯.eh], /awt͡ʃˈlaj.eʁ/ [aʊ̯t͡ʃˈlaɪ̯.eh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /aw.t͡ʃiˈlaj.eʁ/ [aʊ̯.t͡ʃiˈlaɪ̯.eh], /awt͡ʃˈlaj.eʁ/ [aʊ̯t͡ʃˈlaɪ̯.eh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /aw.t͡ʃiˈlaj.eɾ/ [aʊ̯.t͡ʃiˈlaɪ̯.eɾ], /awt͡ʃˈlaj.eɾ/ [aʊ̯t͡ʃˈlaɪ̯.eɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /aw.t͡ʃiˈlaj.eʁ/ [aʊ̯.t͡ʃiˈlaɪ̯.eχ], /awt͡ʃˈlaj.eʁ/ [aʊ̯t͡ʃˈlaɪ̯.eχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /aw.t͡ʃiˈlaj.eɻ/ [aʊ̯.t͡ʃiˈlaɪ̯.eɻ], /awt͡ʃˈlaj.eɻ/ [aʊ̯t͡ʃˈlaɪ̯.eɻ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /awt͡ʃˈlaj.eʁ/ [aʊ̯t͡ʃˈlaɪ̯.eh], /aw.t͡ʃiˈlaj.eʁ/ [aʊ̯.t͡ʃiˈlaɪ̯.eh]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /awˈtlaj.ɐɾ/, /aw.tliˈɐɾ/, (faster pronunciation) /awˈtljɐɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /awˈtlaj.ɐɾ/, /aw.tliˈɐɾ/, (faster pronunciation) /awˈtljɐɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /awˈtlaj.ɐɾ/, /aw.tliˈɐ.ɾi/, (faster pronunciation) /awˈtljɐ.ɾi/

Noun

outlier m (plural outliers)

1. (statistics) outlier

   Synonyms: valor atípico, valor aberrante

Further reading

• “outlier”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026