What does outlandish mean?
Word: Outlandish
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Outlandish means very strange and unusual, often in a way that seems silly.
Synonyms: peculiar
Antonyms: conventional
How do you spell outlandish?
Syllables: out - land - ish
Tricky part: The vowel in the middle is often written as e, giving outlendish. It is an a.
Watch out for: outlendish, outlondish, outlandesh
Memory tip: Strange tales come from distant lands. Keep the word land at the centre, with its a.
Outlandish in a sentence
Example 1: Uncle Raj told an outlandish tale about a singing crab in Goa.
Example 2: Her costume for the fancy dress party was so outlandish that everyone clapped.
Example 3: The inventor had one outlandish idea after another, and a few of them worked.
Fun Fact
Its Old English ancestor simply meant foreign. The modern sense grew much later, perhaps because foreign customs seemed odd to people who never travelled.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. flambuoyant 2. unorthadox 3. outlandish 4. eccentrik
a) bold, showy and keen to be noticed
b) different from the generally accepted way
c) behaving in an odd but harmless way
d) so odd that it looks wildly out of place
Show answer
d) so odd that it looks wildly out of place. The rest should read eccentric, unorthodox and flamboyant.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word outlandish as used in the sentence:
My cousin's outlandish hat, shaped like a pineapple, made the whole wedding party smile.
a) ordinary
b) weird
c) absurd
d) bizarre
Show answer
a) ordinary. A pineapple hat is anything but usual, so the opposite is the plain, everyday word.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
The magician wore an ituoanshld purple coat covered with tiny silver bells.
a) outlandish
b) outrageous
c) outnumbered
d) outstanding
Show answer
a) outlandish. Ten letters with an h and an l, and no second t, g, r or m.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
outtlandish
a) l
b) u
c) o
d) t
Show answer
d) t. One t is all that stands between the first vowels and the l.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which excuse for late homework is outlandish?
a) A parrot flew off with my notebook
b) I misread the date on the timetable
c) My school bus was an hour late
d) I left my notebook at my aunt's home
Show answer
a) A parrot flew off with my notebook
2. A film critic calls a plot outlandish. What does she think of it?
a) It is too slow to hold interest
b) It is too short to enjoy fully
c) It is too sad to watch twice
d) It is too far-fetched to believe
Show answer
d) It is too far-fetched to believe
