The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DEFENDING
Definition of DEFENDING
verb
present participle and gerund 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
Word DNA
DEFENDING inherits its ancestry from its root, DEFEND.
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.2%
of traced words share this origin (11,843)
How it is built
Same root, DEFEND · 2 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Old English.
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
DEFENDING in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 2 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 132, 29 September 2026. The most recent board was Day 145, 12 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 24 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 132, 29 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
DEFENDING starts with D and ends with G. Sorted, its letters read DDEEFGINN - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. D, E and N appear more than once.
Words that start DEFEND
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found DEFENDING?
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 132 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER