The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
IDLE
Definition of IDLE
adjective
Empty, vacant.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English idel, ydel, from Old English īdel, from Proto-West Germanic *īdl, from Proto-Germanic *īdlaz. Cognate with Dutch ijdel (“vain, meaningless”), ijl (“rareified, skinny”), iel (“thin, slender”); German Low German iedel (“vain, idle”); German eitel (“vain, conceited”); and possibly Old Norse illr ("bad"; > English ill).
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.
IDLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 10 boards so far. 21 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 104, 1 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 5 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 7, 28 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
IDLE starts with I and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read DEIL - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
5 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start IDLE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 7
Could you have found IDLE?
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