The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
ADUMBRATION
Definition of ADUMBRATION
noun
The state of being in shadow or shade; a shadow.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
ADUMBRATION carries 4 further meanings.
noun
The act of adumbrating or making a shadow or faint resemblance.
noun
Figuratively, a faint sketch; an imperfect representation; something that suggests by resemblance, or shadows forth; a foreshadowing.
noun
In heraldry, the shadow only of a figure, outlined, and painted of a color darker than the field.
noun
The act of adumbrating, or shadowing forth.
Where it comes from
From Latin adumbrātiō (“sketch; outline, silhouette; pretence, semblance”) + -ion (suffix indicating a condition or state). Adumbrātiō is derived from adumbrāre (present active infinitive of adumbrō (“to represent an object with light and shade, to shade; to represent in outline, to outline, silhouette, sketch; to cast a shadow on, overshadow, shade; to copy, counterfeit, imitate”)) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or the results of actions). Adumbrō is derived from ad- (prefix meaning ‘to, towards’) + umbrō (“to cast a shadow, to shade; to overshadow”) (from umbra (“shade; shadow; ghost”)).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Latin
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
33.1%
of traced words share this origin (9,723)
branch · 33.1% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, ADUMBRATION · 1 relative in the game
ADUMBRATION in a sentence
“Apparently from the very first episode of "Work of Art," clues to the identity of the eventual winner were baked into the show -- a kind of adumbration that is in fact seeded throughout all reality shows by their canny, all-knowing producers.”
ARTINFO: "WORK OF ART" RECAP: The Next Great Artist Was Chosen on TV, as Since Time Immemorial, 2010
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
ADUMBRATION in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 30 boards so far. 66 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 41, 30 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 148, 15 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 41, 30 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
ADUMBRATION starts with A and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AABDIMNORTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Words that mean much the same
Near-synonyms of ADUMBRATION. Not interchangeable at the board - the grid decides that - but close in meaning.
Words that start ADUMBRA
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 41
Could you have found ADUMBRATION?
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 41 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER