The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

ABUSE

/əˈbjuːs/5 letters

Definition of ABUSE

noun

Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Middle English abusen, then from either Old French abus (“improper use”), or from Latin abūsus (“misused, using up”), perfect active participle of abūtor (“make improper use of, consume, abuse”), from ab (“away”) + ūtor (“to use”). Equivalent to ab- + use.

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

ABUSE in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 5 boards so far.

Day 1Day 109
Its 5 boards, across 109 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
5
Boards found on
8
First board
107
Latest board
60
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 107, 4 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.

First found by a player on Day 8, 29 May 2026.

Built from these letters

ABUSE
5
Letters
3
Vowels
2
Consonants
5
Different letters
1
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

ABUSE starts with A and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ABESU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.

Same letters, different word

One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.

Words that start ABUSE

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

ABUSEDABUSERABUSESABUSERS

Could you have found ABUSE?

OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 8 - and most players walked straight past it.

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The OUTLIER card for ABUSEDownload image