The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DEFECTING
Definition of DEFECTING
verb
present participle and gerund of defect
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Word DNA
DEFECTING inherits its ancestry from its root, DEFECT.
Line of descent
- Latin
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
30.5%
of traced words share this origin (24,890)
branch · 30.5% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, DEFECT · 2 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
DEFECTING in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 7 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 81, 9 August 2026. The most recent board was Day 154, 21 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 10 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 81, 9 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Also on
Built from these letters
DEFECTING starts with D and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read CDEEFGINT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E appears more than once.
Words that start DEFECT
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found DEFECTING?
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 81 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER