to stand out negatively (2025)

JamesM said:

Are you saying that your country has the greatest number of children who are poor amongst all the EU states?

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It's not the greatest but much higher than in other EU states.

I don't think I would write the sentence this way, so I'm having difficulty coming up with any wording.

How about:

"Unfortunately, the level of child poverty in our country surpasses/exceeds/outstrips those found in many/most other EU states."

Renatrix said:

"Our country "stands out negatively" against other EU states in terms of the number of children that are poor." This is supposed to mean that we have much more poor children than other EU children.

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Perhaps this could work:

"In terms of the number of children that are poor, when compared to other EU states, our country comes up embarrassingly short."

The "standing out" aspect is implicit in "embarrassingly". Otherwise I don't know, or can't think of, a single word that will sum up what you want -- though it wouldn't surprise me if there once was one (i.e. an archaic verb no longer used today).

Your Quote: Is there a verb in English that means "to stand out in a negative way"?
How about:
He makes/gives/leaves a

impression on people/by smoking.
People get/form/ are left with a

impression of him/something/that because/when...

goldenband said:

Perhaps this could work:

"In terms of the number of children that are poor, when compared to other EU states, our country comes up embarrassingly short."

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That could be interpreted as the number of poor is embarrassingly short, as if they didn't have enough poor children.

Renatrix said:

"Our country "stands out negatively" against other EU states in terms of the number of children that are poor." This is supposed to mean that we have much more poor children than other EU children.

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Another suggestion:
Our country leaves/makes a bad impression when compared to other EU states in terms of the number of poor children.

JamesM said:

That could be interpreted as the number of poor is embarrassingly short, as if they didn't have enough poor children.

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Heh, you have a point! I can't immediately come up with a way of salvaging that one; maybe "...our country has the dubious distinction"? And actually, "dubious distinction" is pretty close to what the first poster is looking for.

Renatrix said:

Is there a verb in English that means "to stand out in a negative way"? For example, all students in class are non-smokers but one. This one who does smoke "stands out negatively" as smoking is nothing to be proud about.

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Obtrude