The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CANKEROUS
Definition of CANKEROUS
adjective
Infected with canker; ulcerous.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
CANKEROUS carries 4 further meanings.
adjective
Marked by or infected with canker; ulcerous.
adjective
Causing canker; ulcerating.
Of the nature of or resembling canker; corrosive; ulcerous; gangrenous: as, a cankerous sore or eruption.
Causing canker; chafing; corroding; ulcerating.
Where it comes from
From canker + -ous.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
How it is built
CANKEROUS in a sentence
“I suspect the cause of much of all this (if you exclude the cankerous meddlings of that fetid pile of manure called politicians) seems to be the constant drive for change – pushed on by the mistaken belief that to get promoted you have to change things.”
Names Will Never Hurt You « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG, 2009
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
CANKEROUS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 35 boards so far. 83 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 22, 11 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 149, 16 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 22, 11 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
CANKEROUS starts with C and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read ACEKNORSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that mean much the same
Near-synonyms of CANKEROUS. Not interchangeable at the board - the grid decides that - but close in meaning.
Words that start CANKER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 22
Could you have found CANKEROUS?
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 22 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER