The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DREADFUL
Definition of DREADFUL
adjective
Full of something causing dread, whether Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky. Unpleasant, awful, very bad (also used as an intensifier). Awesome, awe-inspiring, causing feelings of reverence.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful). By surface analysis, dread + -ful.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Middle English
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
4th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
7.5%
of traced words share this origin (1,958)
branch · 22.7% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
DREADFUL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 131, 28 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 131, 28 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
DREADFUL starts with D and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read ADDEFLRU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. D appears more than once.
Words that start DREADF
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found DREADFUL?
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 131 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER