outlier
Say it: OUT-lye-uh /ˈaʊtlaɪə/ · noun
What “outlier” means
A result or person very different from the rest.
More precisely: A data point or person very different from the rest of the group.
Example: “Her marathon time is an outlier: she's twenty minutes faster than anyone else in the club.”
When to use it
In statistics or everyday comparisons, for something unusually far from the group, whether exceptional, mistaken or simply unusual.
Similar words
anomaly, exception, deviation
Quick check
Nearly every pumpkin weighs around three kilos, but one weighs twenty. What would you call that unusually heavy pumpkin?
the average or an outlier?
Show the answer
an outlier
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