The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
PUNCTILIOUS
Definition of PUNCTILIOUS
adjective
Strictly attentive to detail; meticulous or fastidious, particularly to codes or conventions.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
PUNCTILIOUS carries 4 further meanings.
adjective
Strictly attentive to minute details of form in action or conduct. synonym: meticulous.
adjective
Precise; scrupulous.
Attentive to punctilios; very nice or precise in behavior, ceremony, or intercourse; exact (sometimes, to excess) in the observance of rules or forms prescribed by law or custom.
Synonyms Particular, precise, scrupulous.
Where it comes from
From punctilio (“fine point in exactness of conduct”) + -ous.
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.
PUNCTILIOUS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 26 boards so far. 156 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 27, 16 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 156, 23 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 27, 16 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
PUNCTILIOUS starts with P and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read CIILNOPSTUU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. U and I appear more than once.
Words that mean much the same
Near-synonyms of PUNCTILIOUS. Not interchangeable at the board - the grid decides that - but close in meaning.
Words that start PUNCTIL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 27
Could you have found PUNCTILIOUS?
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 27 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER