: a thing opposite to or excluded by something else
went from one side to the other
nature as the other of culture
3
a
: one (such as another person) that is psychologically differentiated from the self
b
often Other: one considered by members of a dominant group as alien, exotic, threatening, or inferior (as because of different racial, sexual, or cultural characteristics)
: to treat or consider (a person or a group of people) as alien to oneself or one's group (as because of different racial, sexual, or cultural characteristics)
… we trace how in small rural communities these processes of othering the poor are racialized.—Victoria Lawson et al.
You go in and don't have to go some dark, scary corner for the plus-size section. It can make you feel like you're not being othered and dehumanized.—Amanda Levitt
I am a black writer struggling with and through a language that can powerfully evoke and enforce hidden signs of racial superiority, cultural hegemony, and dismissive "othering" of people … —Toni Morrison
Did you know?
Is other a verb?
Like many English words, other possesses great flexibility in meaning and function. Over the past few centuries, it has served as an adjective, an adverb, a noun, and a pronoun. In recent decades, other has increased its part-of-speech portfolio to include verb use, having acquired the meaning "to treat or consider (a person or a group of people) as alien to oneself or one's group (as because of different racial, sexual, or cultural characteristics).” Some people find it disconcerting when a word takes on a new part of speech, a process known as functional shift. The phenomenon is quite common, however -- our language contains many thousands of words which have been formed in this fashion.
Adjective
These and other issues will be discussed at the next meeting.
The driver's wife and two other passengers were injured in the accident.
Leaders from China, Russia, and 14 other countries attended the conference. Adverb
we cannot make it to the party other than by canceling the previous engagement
Recent Examples on the Web
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Adjective
Walks centered on letting your dog explore with their nose at their own pace, free of social pressure from other dogs or people.—
Ryan Brennan,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
7 July 2026 That's a big step up in suspension compared to other folding bikes, whose design only really allows for a plastic block to cushion the blow of uneven roads.—New Atlas,
7 July 2026
Noun
Others request videos of late grandparents as gifts for their own parents.—
Hyung-Jin Kim,
Los Angeles Times,
2 July 2026 While most of the defendants who were sentenced Wednesday entered plea agreements, others who were convicted at trial are appealing their cases, their supporters said.—
Shambhavi Rimal,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
2 July 2026
Adverb
Indeed there had been other more obvious candidates for the job.—
Nicole Gull McElroy,
Fortune,
16 June 2022 That economic frailty has damaged other important sources of investor income as well.—
Jeff Sommer,
New York Times,
15 May 2020
Verb
The film sensitively and disarmingly refuses to other the subculture at its core — a clever way of making the particular feel universal.—
Emily Zemler,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Feb. 2026 But can other smaller regions—like Southeast Asia, home to the largest group of unconnected people in the world outside of Sub-Saharan Africa—keep up?—
Nicholas Gordon,
Fortune,
24 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for other
Word History
Etymology
Adjective, Noun, Pronoun, and Adverb
Middle English, from Old English ōther; akin to Old High German andar other, Sanskrit antara
First Known Use
Adjective
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Noun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2a
Pronoun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2a
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