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

MALICIOUS

/məˈlɪʃəs/9 letters

Definition of MALICIOUS

adjective

Intending to do harm; characterized by spite and malice.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Middle English malicious, from Old French malicios, from Latin malitiōsus, from malitia (“malice”), from malus (“bad”). Displaced native Middle English ivelwilled and ivelwilly (“malicious”), related to Old English yfelwillende (literally “evil-willing”). By surface analysis, malice + -ious.

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.

MALICIOUS in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 43 boards so far. 246 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 98
Its 43 boards, across 98 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
43
Boards found on
7
First board
96
Latest board
9
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 96, 24 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.

First ever to find it

vovinvritra

on Day 7, 28 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

MALICIOUS
9
Letters
5
Vowels
4
Consonants
8
Different letters
1
Longest consonant run
3
Longest vowel run

MALICIOUS starts with M and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read ACIILMOSU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. I appears more than once.

Words that start MALICI

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

MALICINGMALICIOUSLYMALICIOUSNESSMALICIOUSNESSES

Could you have found MALICIOUS?

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.

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