Definition of "outlier" []

• One whose domicile lies at an appreciable distance from his or her place of business. (noun)
• A value far from most others in a set of data: "Outliers make statistical analyses difficult” ( Harvey Motulsky). (noun)
• Geology A portion of stratified rock separated from a main formation by erosion. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The first is that on May 9, there was what is called an "outlier" poll by the Associated Press/GfK which put Obama's approval at a stratospheric 60 percent."
• "Which, of course, means it's a bit of an outlier from the other polls we've seen."
• "The outlier is the Globe/UNH poll, which showed Patrick ahead by only 1."