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RAVEL
Definition of RAVEL
verb
To entwine or tangle (something) confusedly; to entangle.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The verb is borrowed from Dutch ravelen, rafelen (“to tangle, become entangled; to fray; to unweave”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain. It has been suggested that the verb is originally derived from the noun, but the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as “very uncertain”, and instead regards the noun as having derived from the verb (compare Dutch rafel, raffel (“frayed thread”)). Ravel is a contranym having both the senses of tangling (verb senses 1.1, 1.2, 1.4.1, and 2.3; noun sense 1) and untangling (verb senses 1.3, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 2.1, and 2.2; noun sense 2). It would appear that the tangling senses predate the untangling ones (as in Dutch), but this is uncertain because the first published uses of both senses of the words occur around the same time.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
RAVEL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 12 boards so far. 30 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 18, 7 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 100, 28 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 2 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 18, 7 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
RAVEL starts with R and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AELRV - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
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 RAVEL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 18
Could you have found RAVEL?
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 18 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER