outer
Noun pluralouters
Pluralouters
- 1Located on or forming the outside of something; external.
The outer shell of the helmet absorbs most of the impact.
Engineers inspected the outer surface of the aircraft for cracks.
Similarexternal, exterior, outside, outward
Oppositeinner, internal, interior, inside
Note
An old comparative that stopped feeling like one: Old English ūtre, built from out and -er, with cousins in German äußere, Danish ydre and Swedish yttre. Utter grew from the same material, which is why the two words look related: they are. The superlatives are outermost and the shorter outmost. The comparative outermore exists but is rare enough to avoid.
- 2Positioned farther from the center of the inside than another part.
The outer layers of an onion peel away easily.
Satellites orbit in the outer reaches of the planet's gravity.
Similaroutside, peripheral, outlying, remote
Note
Here outer is relative: a part counts as outer only when measured against something nearer the middle. In Margery Allingham's The China Governess (1963), the outer wall is the one whose windows sit level with the pavement outside. Outermost sharpens the comparison. A tree has many outer rings but only one outermost ring.
- 3A part forming the outside of something.
The jacket's outer is windproof, while the lining adds warmth.
The tulip's outers fade to pink as they age, while the inner petals stay white.
Similarexterior, outside, shell
Oppositeinterior
Note
The adjective turned into a noun, a handy shorthand in specialist talk. Val Bourne, writing on snowdrops in The Daily Telegraph in 2015, praises one variety's "elegant upswept outers", meaning its outer petals. The noun usually appears in the plural when the parts come in sets. In general writing the full phrase is clearer: outer petals, outer layer, outer shell.
- 4A part of the seating at a stadium or sports ground that has no roof over it.
Fans in the outer brought blankets and picnic baskets to the game.
Tickets for the outer cost far less than seats in the grandstand.
Similarbleachers
Note
A sportsground word that turns the adjective into a place: the outer is the seating left open to the weather. It normally takes the definite article, like a named part of the ground: a seat in the outer, a crowd in the outer. Being uncovered is the whole point of the word. It names the exposed seats, not simply the ones far from the field.
- 5A shot that strikes the outer ring of a target.
A single outer cost her the championship by one point.
The judge recorded the shot as an outer rather than an inner.
- 6The fourth scoring circle on a target, lying outside the inner and the magpie.
The bullet struck the outer, well away from the center.
Scoring an outer earns the fewest points of the named rings.
Note
A term from the shooting range, where the rings of a target have names rather than only numbers. Counting outward, the outer is the fourth ring, lying beyond both the inner and the magpie, so it is the weakest of the named scoring zones. Shooters use the same word for the shot that lands there: you score an outer by hitting the outer.
- 7The smallest pack that wholesalers sell to shops, usually one box made for display.
The wholesaler refused to split an outer for a single packet.
Retailers buy candy by the outer rather than the individual unit.
Note
A trade word for a middle tier of packaging. Cartons hold outers, and each outer holds the individual packs a shopper takes off the shelf. An order of two cartons with twelve outers in each shows the layers plainly. The outer is the smallest unit a wholesaler sells, so retailers order and count in it like any other unit: six outers, a dozen outers.
- 8A person who publicly admits to something.
Praised as a courageous outer, she discussed her diagnosis publicly.
The outer addressed reporters and admitted his role in the scandal.
Note
Built from the verb out plus the agent suffix -er, so it names whoever does the outing. Here the person outed is oneself. The same formation gives the one who exposes others, so only context tells them apart: an outer in this sense has told their own story, while the other kind has told someone else's.
- 9A person who publicly reveals something private about another person.
The outer leaked details of the actor's private life to the press.
As an outer, she revealed a colleague's identity against his wishes.
Note
The outer of the outing debates: someone who exposes another person's sexuality against their wishes. Simon Gage, Lisa Richards and Howard Wilmot, in Queer: The Ultimate User's Guide (2002), place those debates in the gay press from the early 1990s, when gay celebrities ran for cover. Unlike the self-confessing outer, this one acts on someone else, and the word tends to carry disapproval.
- 10
- 11Someone in favor of their country leaving the European Union.
An outer like her father wanted full independence from Brussels.
The outers narrowly won the referendum.
OppositeRemainer
Note
A label from British politics, used mostly in the plural to name a camp: the outers set against those who wanted to stay in. In print it is often set in quotation marks as campaign shorthand, though Robert Shrimsley's "Gimme a Brexit break" in the Financial Times (2016) uses it bare. Outside a UK political context, readers may hear the self-confessing sense instead.
- 12Comparative form of out. Uncommon; more out is the usual comparative.
After moving away from home, he became far outer about who he was.
Friends noticed she seemed outer and more confident than before.
Note
A modern comparative that the plain adjective normally refuses. The physical senses of out are not comparable, but the sense of being open about one's sexuality is, playfully. Will Young declares himself "outer than you would believe" in To be a Gay Man (2020), and jokey compounds like outer-than-out and outer-than-thou turn up too. It revives the pattern that built the everyday adjective in Old English.
Less common meaning
- 13A person who forces someone or something out of a place, position, or possession.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of outer apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origins
From Middle English outre (also outer, uttre), from Old English ūtre, ūtera, ūterra meaning "outer," equivalent to out plus the suffix -er. It is related to German äußere, Danish ydre, and Swedish yttre, and is a doublet of "utter."
From the verb out plus the agent suffix -er, meaning one who does the action.
From the adjective out plus the comparative suffix -er.