pariah

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“
Iran has become internationally known as a pariah state, but our president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believes he is the most popular president in the world.

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A social outcast: "Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard” (Mark Twain).
  2. noun An Untouchable.
  3. Word History
    The word pariah, which can be used for anyone who is a social outcast, independent of social position, recalls a much more rigid social system, which made only certain people pariahs. The caste system of India placed pariahs, also known as Untouchables, very low in society. The word pariah, which we have extended in meaning, came into English from Tamil paṛaiyar, the plural of paṛaiyan, the caste name, which literally means "(hereditary) drummer” and comes from the word paṛai, the name of a drum used at certain festivals. The word is first recorded in English in 1613. Its use in English and its extension in meaning probably owe much to the long period of British rule in India.

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Examples (50)

  • Being treated like a pariah is harder on me than it is on Kate. —  Beach Road
  • The butcher was a pariah, a sort of unofficial, industrial hangman At the same time he was more or less of a genius, for he climbed steeples, dug wells, and did all kinds of disagreeable jobs that needed to be done, and from which sober and cautious men shrank like unwashed wool One such man--a German, too--lives in East Aurora. —  John Jacob Astor
  • The less they treated him like a pariah, the better. —  Hunter, Healer [Sequel to The Society] - Lilith Saintcrow
  • It was thus disgraceful that after seven years of the US treating this vile body as a pariah, aware that global anti-Semitism was at an all time high, the Obama administration dispatched a delegation to the preparatory committee. —  JPost Headlines
  • Tom Clancy said it years ago; "Treat someone like a pariah, and they're damn well gonna act like a pariah". —  Hot Air » Top Picks
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Tamil paṛaiyar, pl. of paṛaiyan, pariah caste, from paṛai, festival drum.
 

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