The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
INSTANCE
Definition of INSTANCE
noun
Urgency of manner or words; an urgent request; insistence.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Middle French instance, from Latin īnstantia (“a being near, presence, also perseverance, earnestness, importunity, urgency”), from īnstāns (“urgent”); see instant.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Latin
- Middle French
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
33%
of traced words share this origin (9,478)
branch · 33% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, INSTANCE · 2 relatives in the game
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
INSTANCE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 90, 18 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 52 days.
First found by a player on Day 90, 18 August 2026.
Built from these letters
INSTANCE starts with I and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ACEINNST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. N appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start INSTAN
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found INSTANCE?
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 90 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER