outlandish
adjective
Joan E. RigdonGeog. Jour.
Did you know?
For some, the grass isn’t necessarily greener on the other side of the fence—it may also be very, very strange. The side-eye that skeptical sorts cast toward visitors from parts yonder is embedded in the history of the ancient word outlandish. In Old English someone described as “outlandish” came from an outland, i.e., a foreign land. Within a few hundred years, outlandish had broadened in use to describe anything unfamiliar or strange. It’s now commonly applied to things—especially things people do, wear, or say—that are strikingly out of the ordinary, or even just too-too—that is, too far beyond reasonable or proper limits or standards. But lest you mistake us for equating outlandish with wrong or bad, heed the words of Tony Stark (as played by Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man) when addressing speculation that he is secretly a superhero: “That would be outlandish… and fantastic.”
Synonyms
Examples of outlandish in a Sentence
Elahe Izadi, Washington Post, 14 Apr. 2024
Obviously, there’s a fertile market out there for adult animation and the outlandish exaggerations that go with it.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 12 Apr. 2024
While the events in the first Omen seemed to be taking place in a real world that just happened to include demonic figures, this film seems more like a fever dream, its outlandish storyline taking a back seat to a nightmarish vision that’s more about mood than narrative coherence.
—Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Apr. 2024
And as the story hurtles toward 1970 (there’s a highly amusing space-race subplot), the powdery, gauzy town of Palm Beach becomes louder, zanier, and more outlandish—with preppy Lilly Pulitzer swapped out for psychedelic Pucci.
—Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 20 Mar. 2024
The conspiracies became so prevalent and outlandish — the BBL operation, for example — that Kensington Palace took the uncharacteristic step of issuing a statement to stop the gossip.
—Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2024
Aurora’s trial seems less outlandish than other wildlife deterrents — like the pig droves introduced in Anchorage during the 1990s or in 2021 at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport — but some people on Instagram have concerns regarding surveillance.
—Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 2 Apr. 2024
Two North Jersey churches have planned some of the country's most outlandish egg hunts to celebrate the most holy of occasions for Christians.
—William Westhoven, USA TODAY, 30 Mar. 2024
There’s always been a playful irreverence to his films, an unabashed adoration for B-movie exuberance, his outlandish stories’ faint emotional underpinnings married to giddy spectacle.
—Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'outlandish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Outlandish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/outlandish. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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outlandish
adjective
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