The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
GADFLY
Definition of GADFLY
noun
Any dipterous (“two-winged”) insect or fly of the family Oestridae (commonly known as a botfly) or Tabanidae (horsefly), noted for irritating animals by buzzing about them, and biting them to suck their blood; a gadbee.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From gad (“sharp point, spike; (dialectal) sharp-pointed rod for driving cattle, horses, etc., goad”) + fly, in the sense of a fly which irritates cattle, etc., by biting them, similar to the prodding of a goad. Gad is derived from Middle English gad, gadde (“metal spike with a sharp point; stick with a sharp point for driving animals, goad; metal bar or rod, ingot; (by extension) lump of material; metal rod for measuring land; (by extension) unit of linear measure equal to about 10 to 16 feet”), borrowed from Old Norse gaddr (“spike; goad”), from Proto-Germanic *gazdaz (“spike; goad”), further etymology uncertain. Displaced native Old English bēaw. Sense 2.1.1 (“person who upsets the status quo”) may allude to the Apology by the Greek philosopher Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 B.C.E.), where he describes Socrates (c. 470 – 399 B.C.E.) acting as a goad to the Athenian political scene like a gadfly (Ancient Greek μῠ́ωψ (mŭ́ōps)) arousing a sluggish horse.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
GADFLY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 34 boards so far. 114 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 24, 13 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 109, 6 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 24, 13 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
GADFLY starts with G and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read ADFGLY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Also seen on Day 24
Could you have found GADFLY?
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 24 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER