pariahs

Noun

pariah (plural pariahs)

1. Synonym of outcast: A person despised and excluded by their family, community, or society, especially a member of the untouchable castes in Indian society.
   • What is this smoking that it should be considered a crime? I believe in my heart that women are jealous of it, as of a rival. They speak of it as of some secret, awful vice that seizes upon a man, and makes him a Pariah from genteel society.1857, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “The Fitz-Boodle Papers”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume IV, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC, page 4

   Synonyms:

   outcast

2. (figuratively) A similarly despised group of people or species of animal.
   • As ecological conditions became unfavorable for pig raising, there was no alternative function which could redeem its existence. The creature became not only useless, but worse than useless—harmful, a curse to touch or merely to see—a pariah animal.2013, Marvin Harris, “The Abominable Pig”, in Food and Culture: A Reader, 3rd edition, New York City, →ISBN, pages 64–65