as in mavericks
a person who is different from other people and who does not seem to belong in a particular group or situation
a comic book about a social misfit who discovers his superpower
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Recent Examples of misfits
It’s based on the dramatic and emotionally wrenching personal life of Southern Gothic author Carson McCullers, a physically frail but powerful novelist, adept at portraying the loneliness and isolation of misfits and outcasts.
—
Marcia Luttrell, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Apr. 2026
These ragtag misfits, who are all incredibly talented and who are in desperate need of each other, and the glue that binds them together is the music and the city.
—Erik Pedersen, Oc Register, 23 Apr. 2026
As previously announced, Burr plays a gruff American record-store owner who convinces a ragtag gang of teenage misfits that their best, and possibly only, chance to lose their virginity before graduating high school is at a massive open-air mass for the visiting Pope.
—Matt Grobar, Deadline, 20 Apr. 2026
Returning home to his native Puerto Rico after years away, 17-year-old Javi meets Luife and Kiki, two social misfits who flip his entire world upside down.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 16 Apr. 2026
The series, which follows a group of high school misfits who form a glee club under the direction of an earnest teacher, made the musical cool again, selling countless iTunes singles and albums.
—James Mercadante, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Apr. 2026
Rational fears or no, the fact remains that the 24 acres of Bayfront Park belong right now to a few misfits and derelicts.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2026
The Firesign Theatre, a comedy group formed in the 1960s, created surreal albums that mixed satire and science fiction, and inspired a generation of misfits.
—Giri Nathan, The New York Review of Books, 21 Mar. 2026
The movement took hold in the fringes of society among a ragtag group of misfits disillusioned with a postrecession world and in search of both social and political change.
—Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 17 Mar. 2026
Marcia Luttrell, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Apr. 2026
These ragtag misfits, who are all incredibly talented and who are in desperate need of each other, and the glue that binds them together is the music and the city.
—Erik Pedersen, Oc Register, 23 Apr. 2026
As previously announced, Burr plays a gruff American record-store owner who convinces a ragtag gang of teenage misfits that their best, and possibly only, chance to lose their virginity before graduating high school is at a massive open-air mass for the visiting Pope.
—Matt Grobar, Deadline, 20 Apr. 2026
Returning home to his native Puerto Rico after years away, 17-year-old Javi meets Luife and Kiki, two social misfits who flip his entire world upside down.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 16 Apr. 2026
The series, which follows a group of high school misfits who form a glee club under the direction of an earnest teacher, made the musical cool again, selling countless iTunes singles and albums.
—James Mercadante, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Apr. 2026
Rational fears or no, the fact remains that the 24 acres of Bayfront Park belong right now to a few misfits and derelicts.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2026
The Firesign Theatre, a comedy group formed in the 1960s, created surreal albums that mixed satire and science fiction, and inspired a generation of misfits.
—Giri Nathan, The New York Review of Books, 21 Mar. 2026
The movement took hold in the fringes of society among a ragtag group of misfits disillusioned with a postrecession world and in search of both social and political change.
—Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 17 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misfits
Noun
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The confluence at Black Mountain of émigré artists like Josef and Anni Albers with homegrown mavericks like John Cage and Buckminster Fuller (who constructed his first geodesic dome there) marked an early flowering of this mode of learning, which was still in fine health decades later.—
Christopher Benfey,
The New York Review of Books,
19 Apr. 2026
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Garcia, who plays cartel boss Gallino in the second season of the Paramount+ show, praised Sheridan as one of Hollywood's true mavericks.—
Lauryn Overhultz , Larry Fink,
FOXNews.com,
1 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Now, most Memphis barbecue restaurants serve BBQ spaghetti, and even outsiders of Memphis know that BBQ spaghetti is a part of our famous barbecue culture.—
Taylor Tobin,
Southern Living,
25 Apr. 2026
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But these unknown early writings suggest that he may be better understood as an immigrant writer—one of the gifted, ambivalent outsiders who remade American literature after World War II—whose most astonishing achievement was the all-American voice of On the Road and the books that came after.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The traveling circus show brings acrobats, illusionists, freaks and mysterious creatures inside its black and red tent starting Friday, April 3, and running daily through Monday, April 13.—
Joseph Hernandez,
Kansas City Star,
3 Apr. 2026
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Life online appears to be neatly divisible, and indeed divided, into freaks on the one hand and, on the other, reasonable people such as yourself.—
Ian Bogost,
The Atlantic,
31 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Misfits.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misfits. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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