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

EXCAVATION

/ˌɛkskəˈveɪʃn/10 letters

Definition of EXCAVATION

noun

The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Latin excavātiō (“a hollowing out”), from excavō (“to hollow out”), from ex + cavō (“to hollow out”), from cavus (“hollow”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“vault, hole”). Equivalent to excavate + -ion.

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.

EXCAVATION in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 5 boards so far. 30 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 102
Its 5 boards, across 102 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
5
Boards found on
73
First board
102
Latest board
18
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 73, 1 August 2026. The most recent board was Day 102, 30 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.

First ever to find it

heliophobe

on Day 73, 1 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

EXCAVATION
10
Letters
5
Vowels
5
Consonants
9
Different letters
2
Longest consonant run
2
Longest vowel run

EXCAVATION starts with E and ends with N. Sorted, its letters read AACEINOTVX - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once. It uses X - among the least common letters in written English.

Words that start EXCAVA

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

Could you have found EXCAVATION?

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 73 - and most players walked straight past it.

Play today's OUTLIER

Share EXCAVATION

The OUTLIER card for EXCAVATIONDownload image