The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DEBACLE
Definition of DEBACLE
noun
An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From French débâcle, from débâcler (“to unbar; unleash”) from prefix dé- (“un-”) + bâcler (“to dash, bind, bar, block”) [perhaps from unattested Middle French and Old French *bâcler, *bacler (“to hold in place, prop a door or window open”)], from Vulgar Latin *bacculare, from Latin baculum (“rod, staff used for support”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-. Also attested in Old French desbacler (“to clear a harbour by getting ships unloaded to make room for incoming ships with lading”) and in Occitan baclar (“to close”). The hypothesised derivation from Middle Dutch *bakkelen (“to freeze artificially, lock in place”), a frequentative of bakken (“to stick, stick hard, glue together”) no longer seems likely due to the lack of attestation of *bakkelen in Middle Dutch and by it having the limited meaning of "freeze superficially" in Dutch.
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.
DEBACLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 13 boards so far. 18 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 120, 17 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 7, 28 May 2026.
Built from these letters
DEBACLE starts with D and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ABCDEEL - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E appears more than once.
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 7
Could you have found DEBACLE?
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 7 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER