The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DEFEND
Definition of DEFEND
verb
To ward off attacks against; to fight to protect; to guard. To ward off attacks against (something or someone). To ward off attacks from (something or someone).
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English defenden, from Old French defendre, deffendre (Modern French défendre), from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off”), from Proto-Italic *fendō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen-. Displaced native Old English bewerian.
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.
DEFEND in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 90, 18 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 32 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 90, 18 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
DEFEND starts with D and ends with D. Sorted, its letters read DDEEFN - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. D and E appear 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.
Words that start DEFEND
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found DEFEND?
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 90 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER