The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

DILATORY

/ˈdɪlət(ə)ɹi/8 letters

Definition of DILATORY

adjective

Intentionally delaying (someone or something), intended to cause delay, gain time, or adjourn decision.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Middle English dilatorie, from Old French dilatoire, from Latin dīlātōrius (“extending or putting off (time)”), from dīlātor, from differō. Not etymologically related to delay.

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

DILATORY in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 25 boards so far. 44 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 97
Its 25 boards, across 97 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
25
Boards found on
27
First board
96
Latest board
10
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 96, 24 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.

First found by a player on Day 27, 16 June 2026.

Built from these letters

DILATORY
8
Letters
3
Vowels
5
Consonants
8
Different letters
2
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

DILATORY starts with D and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read ADILORTY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.

Same letters, different word

2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.

Words that start DILATO

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

DILATORDILATORSDILATORILYDILATOMETERDILATOMETRYDILATOMETERSDILATOMETRICDILATORINESSDILATOMETRIESDILATORINESSES

Could you have found DILATORY?

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 27 - and most players walked straight past it.

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