Sunday, March 21, 2010

Pariah

Oxford English Reference Dictionary

pariah
n.
1 a social outcast.
2 hist. a member of a low caste or of no caste in S. India.
Phrases and idioms:
pariah-dog = PYE-DOG.
Etymology: Tamil paraiyar pl. of paraiyan hereditary drummer f. parai drum


Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary

pariah (pariahs) If you describe someone as a pariah, you mean that other people dislike them so much that they refuse to associate with them. His landlady had treated him like a dangerous criminal, a pariah. = outcast N-COUNT [disapproval]

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