The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MALINGER
Definition of MALINGER
verb
To feign illness, injury, or incapacitation in order to avoid work, obligation, or perilous risk.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
MALINGER carries 4 further meanings.
intransitive verb
To feign illness or other incapacity in order to avoid duty or work.
To feign illness; sham sickness in order to avoid duty; counterfeit disease.
intransitive verb
To act the part of a malingerer; to feign illness or inability.
verb
To feign illness, injury, or incapacitation in order to avoid work or obligation.
Where it comes from
From French malingrer, from adjective malingre (“delicate, fragile”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- French
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
5th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
7.2%
of traced words share this origin (2,177)
branch · 15.5% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, MALINGER · 3 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.
MALINGER in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 45 boards so far. 114 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 23, 12 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 154, 21 October 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 23, 12 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MALINGER starts with M and ends with R. Sorted, its letters read AEGILMNR - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that mean much the same
Near-synonyms of MALINGER. Not interchangeable at the board - the grid decides that - but close in meaning.
Same letters, different word
2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start MALING
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 23
Could you have found MALINGER?
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 23 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER