The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
LIONISM
Definition of LIONISM
noun
The 19th-century practice of bringing a lion (“an interesting person or object”) into one’s home as entertainment for visitors. The state of being the lion (see above) of 19th-century hosts.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From lion (“big cat (Panthera leo); (figurative) famous person regarded with interest and curiosity; person who shows attributes associated with the lion such as courage, ferocity, or strength”) + -ism (suffix forming names of schools of thought, systems, or theories, or of tendencies of action, behaviour, condition, state, condition, or opinion belonging to a class or group of persons). Sense 1 (“19th-century practice of bringing an interesting person or object into one’s home as entertainment for visitors; state of being such a person or object”) refers to the lions previously on display at a menagerie in the Tower of London, which existed till the 19th century. Sense 4 refers to the Lion of Judah, a hereditary title of Haile Selassie I (1892–1975), the Emperor of Ethiopia, who is revered by some members of the Rastafari movement as the messiah; the lion is thus a symbol of Rastafarianism.
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.
LIONISM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 3 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 72, 31 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 95, 23 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 7 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 82, 10 August 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
LIONISM starts with L and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read IILMNOS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. I appears more than once.
Words that start LIONIS
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found LIONISM?
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 72 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER