The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DAMPER
Definition of DAMPER
noun
Something that damps or checks: A valve or movable plate in the flue or other part of a stove, furnace, etc., used to check or regulate the draught of air. A contrivance (sordine), as in a pianoforte, to deaden vibrations; or, as in other pieces of mechanism, to check some action at a particular time. Something that kills the mood. A device that decreases the oscillations of a system. A shock absorber.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From damp (verb) + -er. The name of the type of bread is first attested in 1825, and originally likely refers to damping the appetite.
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.
DAMPER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 16 boards so far. 17 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 31, 20 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 97, 25 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 5 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 31, 20 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
DAMPER starts with D and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read ADEMPR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Also seen on Day 31
Could you have found DAMPER?
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 31 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER