The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MERITOCRACY
Definition of MERITOCRACY
noun
Rule by merit and talent.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From merit + -o- + -cracy, coined by British sociologist Alan Fox in 1956 in an article in Socialist Commentary from May 1956, used as a derisive term, and popularized by British sociologist Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington in his book The Rise of the Meritocracy (1958).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
MERITOCRACY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 140, 7 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 13 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 140, 7 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MERITOCRACY starts with M and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read ACCEIMORRTY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. R and C appear more than once.
Words that start MERITOC
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found MERITOCRACY?
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 140 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER