outcast

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈaʊtkɑːst/ (noun, adjective); /aʊtˈkɑːst/ (verb)
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈaʊtkæst/ (noun, adjective); /aʊtˈkæst/ (verb)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊtkɑːst, -ɑːst, -aʊtkæst, -æst
• Homophone: outcaste

Etymology 1

From Middle English outcasten, equivalent to out- +‎ cast.

Verb

outcast (third-person singular simple present outcasts, present participle outcasting, simple past and past participle outcast)

1. To cast out; to banish. [from 14th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 16, page 395:

     And her faire yellow locks behind her flew, / Looſely diſperſt with puff of euery blaſt: / All as a blazing ſtarre doth farre outcaſt / His hearie beames, and flaming lockes diſpredd, / At ſight whereof the people ſtand aghaſt: […]

Adjective

outcast (comparative more outcast, superlative most outcast)

1. That has been cast out; banished, ostracized. [from 14th c.]
   • 1851, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Golden Legend, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 35:

     O, horrible fate! Outcast, rejected, / As one with pestilence infected!

   • 2019, Victor C. de Munck, Romantic Love in America, page 152:

     We were not a big huggie family so I was very, very encased in a little stay-away-from-me shell growing-up, and here I got to open up and feel safe and able to touch and hold and be able to be with another human being, which was really a big relief, a very positive part of my understanding of myself that I wasn't just this outcast evil outsider of everything.

Etymology 2

From Middle English outcaste, outecaste, equivalent to out- +‎ cast.

Noun

outcast (plural outcasts)

1. One that has been excluded from a society or system, a pariah, a leper. [from 14th c.]
   • 2015 March 19, Mekado Murphy, “'The Divergent Series: Insurgent' Creates New Worlds”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     The other factions believe that those who are Factionless are nomads and outcasts. But they are actually a fully functioning community.

2. (more generally) Synonym of outsider: someone who does not belong, a misfit.
   • 2019, Amanda Koci, Henry Walter, Charlie Puth, Maria Smith, Victor Thellm Gigi Grombacher, Roland Spreckle (lyrics and music), “So Am I”, performed by Ava Max:

     Do you ever feel like an outcast?
     You don't have to fit into the format
     Oh, but it's okay to be different
     'Cause baby, so am I

3. (Scotland) A quarrel.
4. The amount of increase in the bulk of grain during malting.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:outcast

Translations

someone excluded from a society or system, a pariah, a leper

• Afrikaans: verstoteling (af)
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: مَنْبُوذ m (manbūḏ), مَنْبُوذَة f (manbūḏa)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: па́рыя m or f (páryja), ізго́й m (izhój)
• Bulgarian: изгна́ник (bg) m (izgnánik), изгна́ница f (izgnánica), па́рий (bg) m (párij)
• Catalan: pària m or f, marginat (ca) m, marginada (ca) f, proscrit m, proscrita f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 被放逐者, 賤民／贱民 (zh) (jiànmín)

• Czech: vyvrhel m, vyděděnec m
• Danish: udstødt c, paria c
• Dutch: buitenbeentje (nl) n, uitgestotene (nl) m or f, verschoppeling (nl) m, verstoteling (nl) m
• Esperanto: elpelito
• Estonian: paaria (et)
• Finnish: hylkiö (fi), paaria (fi), hyljeksitty henkilö
• French: paria (fr) m or f, proscrit (fr) m, proscrite (fr) f
• Galician: intocable (gl) m or f, paria m or f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Paria (de) m, Unberührbarer m, Aussätziger (de) m, Außenseiter (de) m, Außenseiterin (de) f, Ausgestoßener (de) m, Ausgestoßene (de) f, Ausgestossener (de) m (Switzerland, Liechtenstein), Ausgestossene (de) f (Switzerland, Liechtenstein), Ausgeschlossener m, Outcast m, Geächteter m
• Greek:

  Ancient: κάθαρμα n (kátharma)

• Greenlandic: hingitaq
• Hausa: zā̀rē m
• Hungarian: száműzött (hu)
• Ido: paria (io)
• Indonesian: paria (id)
• Irish: díbeartach m
• Italian: emarginato (it) m, emarginata (it) f, reietto (it) m, reietta (it) f, paria (it) m (male or female)
• Japanese: のけ者 (ja) (のけもの, nokemono)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: отпадник m (otpadnik)
• Maori: paruranga, whakahoenga
• Navajo: doo yildiní
• Ngarrindjeri: pulpulumi
• Persian: پاریا (pâriyâ)
• Polish: wyrzutek (pl) m, parias (pl) m, trędowaty (pl) m
• Portuguese: deslocado (pt) m, deslocada f, excluído (pt) m, excluída f, pária (pt) m or f
• Romanian: paria (ro) m, proscris (ro) m, expulzat m, expulzată f
• Russian: изго́й (ru) m (izgój), изгна́нник (ru) m (izgnánnik), изгна́нница (ru) f (izgnánnica), отве́рженный (ru) m (otvéržennyj), отве́рженная (ru) f (otvéržennaja), неприкаса́емый (ru) m (neprikasájemyj), неприкаса́емая (ru) f (neprikasájemaja), па́рия (ru) m or f (párija)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìobarach m
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: apestado (es) m, proscrito (es) m, paria (es) m or f, marginado (es) m, leproso (es) m
• Swedish: utstött (sv) c, paria (sv) c
• Tocharian B: caṇḍāle ?
• Turkish: dışlanmış (+ noun), soyutlandırılmış, itilmiş (idiomatic)
• Ukrainian: па́рія m or f (párija), ізго́й m (izhój)
• Uzbek: yurgʻusiz (uz), yuruqsiz (uz)
• Welsh: crwydriad m, crwydriadiaid m pl

Anagrams

• acts out, cast out, outacts