Outsider

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌaʊtˈsaɪdəɹ/

Definitions

1. A person who does not belong to or is not accepted by a particular group, organization, or community
2. a person external to a particular group or community who lacks membership or acceptance within it
3. an individual positioned outside the boundaries of an established social or organizational circle

Etymology: The word is a plain compound: "outside" plus the agent suffix "-er," meaning someone or something that does the thing named. "Outside" itself goes back to Old English "ūt" (out) combined with "sīde" (side), so the literal sense is "one who is on the out-side." The suffix is more roundabout. It descends from a Latin adjective-forming ending "-ārius," which passed through Old French "-ier" and Middle English "-ere" before settling into the modern "-er" we use on countless words such as "baker" and "singer." Because the word is built from ordinary English parts, its meaning follows naturally from its literal parts: someone standing on the far side of a boundary, looking in. Nothing about its formation required a coinage or a famous first user, so the story is mostly one of familiar pieces fitted together.

Synonyms: stranger, foreigner, non-member

Antonyms: insider, member