The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
CONTRACTION
Definition of CONTRACTION
noun
Senses relating to becoming involved with or entering into, especially entering into a contract. An act of incurring debt; also , an act of acquiring something (generally negative).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Late Middle English contraccioun, contraxion (“spasm, contraction; constriction, shrinking; act of pressing together”), from Old French contraction (modern French contraction), from Latin contractiō(n) (“a drawing together, contraction; abridgement, shortening; dejection, despondency”), from contrahō (“to draw things together, assemble, collect, gather; to enter into a contract”) + -tiō(n) (suffix forming nouns relating to actions or their results). Contrahō is derived from con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of objects) + trahō (“to drag, pull”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”)). By surface analysis, contract + -ion (suffix denoting actions or processes, or their results).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
CONTRACTION in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 3, 24 May 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 119 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 3, 24 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
CONTRACTION starts with C and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read ACCINNOORTT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. C, O, N and T appear more than once.
Words that start CONTRAC
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 3
Could you have found CONTRACTION?
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 3 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER