The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CLOSE
Definition of CLOSE
verb
To remove or block an opening, gap or passage through. To move a thing, or part of a thing, nearer to another so that the gap or opening between the two is removed.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English closen (“to close, enclose”), partly continuing (in altered form) earlier Middle English clusen (“to close”) from Old English clȳsan (“to close, shut”); compare beclose, foreclose, etc.), and partly derived from Middle English clos (“close, shut up, confined, secret”, adjective), from Old French clos (“close, confined”, adjective), from Latin clausus (“shut up”, past participle), from claudō (“to bar, block, close, enclose, bring an end to, confine”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂w- (“key, hook, nail”), related to Latin clāvis (“key, deadbolt, bar”), clāvus (“nail, peg”), claustrum (“bar, bolt, barrier”), claustra (“dam, wall, barricade, stronghold”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κλείω (kleíō), κλείς (kleís, “bar, bolt, key”), Russian заключи́ть (zaključítʹ) (via ключ (ključ)), German schließen (“to close, conclude, lock”), Dutch sluiten (“to close, conclude, lock”). Partially replaced Old English lūcan (“to close, lock, enclose”), (whence English lock). Doublet of clause.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Old English
- Middle English
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
7th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
3.7%
of traced words share this origin (2,984)
branch · 22.6% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, CLOSE · 4 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Ancient Greek, Dutch, German, Latin, Old French, Proto-Indo-European, Russian.
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
CLOSE in OUTLIER
It has fitted 2 boards so far. 18 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 118, 15 September 2026. The most recent board was Day 153, 20 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 12 days.
First found by a player on Day 27, 16 June 2026.
Built from these letters
CLOSE starts with C and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read CELOS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start CLOSE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found CLOSE?
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 118 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER