The Oxford Dictionary records three definitions for the adjective “outstanding.” It can mean “exceptionally good,” “clearly noticeable” or “not yet paid, resolved, or dealt with.”
This can cause confusion. For example, if your child’s school emails to say that their work is outstanding, either you can rejoice because they have done exceptionally well, or you need to go and have words with them because they’ve missed a deadline. Hopefully, the email contains additional information that explains which meaning applies.
Examples:
“As a result of the outstanding collaboration among surgeons, engineers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), organ procurement specialists, pilots, nurses, and, ultimately, the patient, we were able to make a pioneering breakthrough in transplantation.” (outstanding = exceptionally good.)
“The first step in addressing this crisis is to deal head-on with the outstanding debt that is weighing down millions of families and should never have been required in the first place” (outstanding = unpaid)
“Glasgow MP Alison Thewliss said the government’s decision to combine four Jobcentres into one ‘smacked of an outstanding ignorance’ of the city’s needs.” (outstanding = clearly noticeable)
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