Outgroup

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A category of individuals recognized as separate from a primary group, often characterized by differing traits and resulting in social dynamics
2. A group that is marked by its distinction from another, typically leading to perceptions of difference and outsider status
3. A set of people or entities identified as outside or different from a main or reference group

Etymology: "Outgroup" is a plain compound, built from the English prefix "out-" and "group," and it describes a group defined chiefly by the fact that it is not the one a person belongs to. The prefix "out-" traces back through Old English "ūt" and Proto-Germanic "ūt" to a very old root meaning "out" or "outside," so the word combines an ancient sense of exclusion with a much later borrowing. "Group" came into English from French "groupe," which passed through Italian "gruppo," where the term originally referred to a knot or a clump, before it took on its modern sense of a collection of people or things. The compound's meaning has been shaped by its use. Joined together, "out" and "group" describe a set of people set apart by distinction from another set, and the word now carries the sense that such a division produces perceptions of difference and a feeling of being an outsider. Its literal parts are simple, but the idea it names is the social one.

Synonyms: external group, other group

Antonyms: ingroup, group