The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CATHEXIS
Definition of CATHEXIS
noun
The concentration of libido or emotional energy on a single object or idea.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
CATHEXIS carries 4 further meanings.
noun
Concentration of emotional energy on an object or idea.
noun
the process of investing mental, emotional, or libidinal energy or significance in an object, person, or idea.
noun
the emotional or libidinal energy invested in an object, person, or idea.
noun
(psychoanalysis) the libidinal energy invested in some idea or person or object
Where it comes from
From Ancient Greek κάθεξις (káthexis, “holding, retention”). The term entered the English language as a translation for the common everyday German word Besetzung, which in the context of psychoanalysis means "occupation" in the sense of a position or something being occupied or filled, and not a military occupation of a place or the filling of job positions (although it can also mean either of these in other contexts). (In English translations, a Greek word was used to be more scientific.)
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- German
- Ancient Greek
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
8th
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
3.1%
of traced words share this origin (905)
branch · 22.3% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
CATHEXIS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 21 boards so far. 65 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 65, 24 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 145, 12 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 65, 24 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
CATHEXIS starts with C and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read ACEHISTX - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram. It uses X - among the least common letters in written English.
Could you have found CATHEXIS?
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 65 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER