The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DICTION
Definition of DICTION
noun
Choice and use of words, especially with regard to effective communication.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From late Middle English diccion (“something said; a word or phrase”) (an obsolete sense in Modern English), borrowed directly from Latin dictiō (“a saying, speaking, uttering”) or from Old French dicïon (“word”) (Anglo-Norman dictyoun), from Late Latin dictiō (“word”), both from dīcō (“to say, to talk”) + -tiō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show, to point out”). The modern senses of “choice and use of words” and “clarity of word choice” were likely influenced by additional senses of dictiō.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
8.9%
of traced words share this origin (2,656)
How it is built
Same root, DICTION · 1 relative in the game
Its etymology also names Anglo-Norman.
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.
DICTION in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 40 boards so far. 75 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 149, 16 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First found by a player on Day 7, 28 May 2026.
Built from these letters
DICTION starts with D and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read CDIINOT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. I appears more than once.
Words that start DICTIO
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 7
Could you have found DICTION?
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