The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
OPTIONAL
Definition of OPTIONAL
adjective
Not compulsory; left to personal choice; elective.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From option + -al.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
How it is built
Same root, OPTION · 8 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.
OPTIONAL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 20 boards so far. 26 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 26, 15 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 149, 16 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 10 days.
First found by a player on Day 26, 15 June 2026.
Built from these letters
OPTIONAL starts with O and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AILNOOPT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. O appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start OPTION
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 26
Could you have found OPTIONAL?
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 26 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER