castoffs

plural of castoff
as in rejects
one who is cast out or rejected by society a castoff who later became a famous poet

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of castoffs Their limited budgets also have required both to identify which castoffs elsewhere could become valuable contributors. — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 23 Oct. 2026 Filled with castoffs from other teams and cheap internal options having the best few weeks of their careers at the perfect time. — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2026 Players such as Hamilton and Jake Bauers — who drew a crucial 12-pitch walk against Yoshinobu Yamamoto during Milwaukee’s third-inning rally — were castoffs elsewhere, but the Brewers figured out how to optimize their skill sets. — Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 13 Oct. 2026 How odd that your in-laws can call your bed old and ugly, but balk at insulting their neighbor’s castoffs by not using them. — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2026 Hsu maps a Los Angeles of leftovers and castoffs; portraits of friends and strangers in the street are full of dazed, inscrutable expressions. — Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2026 The Valkyries, as an expansion club, were constructed originally out of WNBA castoffs and skilled international players. — Brian Hamilton, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2026 While the big-name prospects were at Chase Center, the combo guard had to make the most of it with long shots and castoffs. — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 12 July 2026 The pastor’s initiative proved so popular that the church began distributing feed sacks to well-off homes, so Boston housewives could continually set aside castoffs for donation. — Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, 12 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for castoffs
Noun
  • Pollock's rejects were the source material for Bald Eagle, according to Kumar.
    — Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR, 10 Oct. 2026
  • The most opinionated of these rejects is Smarty Pants, a basic toilet-training tech tool given an amusingly snarky attitude by Conan O’Brien.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 June 2026
Noun
  • Lee’s films have often zeroed in on misfits and outcasts, cut off from society’s embrace.
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2026
  • These bog bodies tell stories of a time when humans were sacrificed to the gods in bogs, as otherworldly margins between the human and divine realms, or when social outcasts met a cruel, violent end for failing to conform to societal standards.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • As fans recall, season 50 featured a guest appearance by MrBeast, who challenged the castaways to correctly guess a coin toss to double the $1 million prize.
    — Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2026
  • Meet the 'Survivor' 51 castaways Are there any players from Michigan on 'Survivor' 51?
    — Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 27 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • Rather than bolstering support for traditional hunting practices, the constitutional amendment could make sportsmen and women pariahs in the public’s eye and invite further ballot initiatives.
    — Andrew McKean, Outdoor Life, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Though top of the Premier League, City are pariahs domestically, having been found guilty of almost all of the breaches of the league’s financial regulations they were charged with, pending a final appeal.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 14 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Remember, the Lord Jesus did not fear lepers, and leprosy was (and continues to be) a highly contagious infectious disease.
    — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 15 Sep. 2025
  • The town serves as the backdrop for what many surrounding the production consider the creative high point of the season — an episode 5 spaghetti western side mission that involves lepers, eye-gauging vultures, and a train pulled by zombies.
    — Dalton Ross, EW.com, 26 Aug. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Castoffs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/castoffs. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster