The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
NECESSARY
Definition of NECESSARY
adjective
Required, essential, whether logically inescapable or needed in order to achieve a desired result or avoid some penalty.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English necessarye, from Old French necessaire, from Latin necessārius (“unavoidable, inevitable, required”), variant of necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable”), probably from ne or non cessum, from the perfect passive participle of cēdō (“yield; avoid, withdraw”); see cede. Older use as a noun in reference to an outhouse or lavatory under the influence of English and Latin necessārium, a medieval term for the place for monks’ “unavoidable” business, usually located behind or attached to monastic dormitories.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
30.7%
of traced words share this origin (26,276)
branch · 30.7% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, NECESSARY · 1 relative 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.
NECESSARY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 172, 8 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 172, 8 November 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
NECESSARY starts with N and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read ACEENRSSY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. E and S appear more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start NECESS
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found NECESSARY?
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 172 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER