What does outcast mean?
An outcast is a person who is rejected, estranged, or excluded from a group, institution, or wider society. The word commonly describes someone who is treated as belonging outside the community that others regard as normal or acceptable. It can apply to an individual or, occasionally, to a larger group, such as an outcast community. Outcast carries a strong emotional and social charge: it suggests not merely being different, but being actively or effectively excluded. In literature and historical writing, it may refer to someone driven away from a family, tribe, religious community, or social order. Although it can sometimes describe voluntary withdrawal, its usual implication is that the separation is imposed or experienced as rejection. In contemporary usage, the term is most often found in formal or literary contexts, while outsider is generally more neutral.
nounA person who is rejected or excluded from a group, community, or society. The term often implies social, moral, or cultural exclusion.
- A person who is rejected, estranged, or excluded from a group or community.
- A person regarded as belonging to the margins of society rather than its accepted community.
"The young artist felt like an outcast among her more established colleagues."
"He was treated as an outcast after leaving the village."
"The novel portrays the narrator as a solitary outcast in a crowded city."
The regular plural is outcasts.
"The school worked to ensure that no pupils were treated as outcasts."
Outcast combines the idea of being cast out from a group with the painful sense of being left beyond its protection.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does outcast come from?
The word is formed from out and cast, in the sense of being thrown or excluded from a group. Its sense developed from the idea of casting someone out of a community. The second element is related to words such as broadcast and forecast, and ultimately to Old Norse and other Germanic forms associated with throwing.
How outcast is actually used
Generally formal and potentially emotive. It often suggests exclusion from a community because of social identity, conduct, status, or circumstances.
Easily confused with outcast
As a noun, an outcast is a person or group excluded from a community, whereas the related verb 'outcast' means to exclude or reject someone.