out-group

American  

[out-groop] / ˈaʊtˌgrup /

noun

Sociology.

1. people outside one's own group, especially as considered to be inferior or alien; a group perceived as other than one's own.

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out-group British  

noun

1. sociol persons excluded from an in-group

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Etymology

Origin of out-group

First recorded in 1905–10; out- + group

Example Sentences

A vice signaler typically violates moral or other standards of an out-group precisely in order to look good to the fellow members of some in-group.

From Salon • Jan. 29, 2026

So if you decide to exclude someone from a paradigm, you have to change the rules and you have to define who is in the in-group and who is in the out-group.

From Slate • Mar. 3, 2025

There is always an in-group and an out-group.

From Scientific American • Sep. 28, 2023

As a result, tribalistic tendencies both reinforce allegiances among in-group members and increase animosity toward out-group members.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

He describes the transition from contacts of the out-group to those of the in-group, or from remote to intimate relations.

From Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Park, Robert Ezra