An outcast is someone who has been rejected or excluded by a group. When a person becomes an outcast, others push them away, refuse to include them, or treat them as if they don't belong. The word describes both the experience of being pushed out and the person experiencing it.

In schools, a student might become an outcast if classmates deliberately leave them out of games, conversations, and activities. Sometimes people become outcasts because they're different in some way: they might have unusual interests, come from a different background, or simply not fit in with what the group considers normal. Other times, someone becomes an outcast after breaking an important rule or betraying the group's trust.

History is full of examples where societies made certain people outcasts simply because of their religion, where they came from, or how they looked. These historical outcasts often formed their own communities and proved that being rejected by one group doesn't define a person's worth.

The feeling of being an outcast is painful because humans naturally want to belong and connect with others. Groups that create outcasts often reveal more about their own intolerance than about the people they reject.