outskirts

noun

1. Often outskirts. the outlying district or region, as of a city, metropolitan area, or the like: to live on the outskirts of town; a sparsely populated outskirt.
2. Usually outskirts. the border or fringes of a specified quality, condition, or the like: the outskirts of respectability.

pl n

1. (sometimes singular) outlying or bordering areas, districts, etc, as of a city

n.“outer border,” 1590s, from out + skirt (n.). Now only in plural, outskirts. Originally in Spenser.