What does outskirts mean?
Word: Outskirts
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Outskirts means the parts of a town or city that lie around its edges, far from the middle.
How do you spell outskirts?
Syllables: out - skirts
Tricky part: The sound after out is spelt sk, not sc, and the word normally keeps its s at the end, as in "on the outskirts of Pune".
Watch out for: outscirts, outsckirts
Memory tip: Think of the outskirts as the outer skin of a city: like skin, the word uses sk, not sc.
Outskirts in a sentence
Example 1: New housing colonies are coming up on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
Example 2: The airport is on the outskirts of the city, about an hour's drive away.
Example 3: We stopped at a dhaba on the outskirts of Amritsar for parathas.
Fun Fact
The skirt inside outskirts is the same word as the piece of clothing: for hundreds of years skirt has also meant the edge or border of something.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Fusion
Which two parts join to make a new word?
1. over 2. skurts 3. out 4. skerts 5. skirts 6. on
a) 1 and 4
b) 3 and 2
c) 6 and 2
d) 3 and 5
Show answer
d) 3 and 5. Out and skirts make the word for the edges of a town; skurts and skerts are not real words.
Word Puzzle
Match the words with the correct options:
1. outskirts 2. scarce 3. noisy a. centre b. silent c. plentiful
a) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
b) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
c) 1-a, 2-c, 3-b
d) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
Show answer
c) 1-a, 2-c, 3-b. The edge of a town is the opposite of its centre, scarce is the opposite of plentiful, and noisy of silent.
Sound Check
In which word is 'ou' pronounced differently?
a) outside
b) outskirts
c) touch
d) shout
Show answer
c) touch. In touch, ou is a short "u" as in cup; in outskirts, outside and shout it says "ow".
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the given sentence?
On the outskirts of Pune, my uncle grows tomatos and cabbages on a small farm near the hils.
a) 1
b) 0
c) 3
d) 2
Show answer
d) 2. Tomatoes takes -oes and hills has a double l, so two words are wrong.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Someone who lives on the outskirts of Jaipur will probably ___.
a) live right beside the main bazaar
b) travel some way to reach the main bazaar
c) live above a shop in the old walled city
d) walk to the City Palace in two minutes
Show answer
b) travel some way to reach the main bazaar
2. Which sentence uses outskirts correctly?
a) She keeps her pens in the outskirts of her bag.
b) The shop is in the outskirts of the room.
c) Our new flat is on the outskirts of Lucknow.
d) He wrote his name on the outskirts of the page.
Show answer
c) Our new flat is on the outskirts of Lucknow.
