The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SHAMBLE
Definition of SHAMBLE
noun
One of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus raised to a higher level.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Other senses
SHAMBLE carries 4 further meanings.
intransitive verb
To walk in an awkward, lazy, or unsteady manner, shuffling the feet.
noun
A shuffling gait.
noun
A shambling walk or gait.
To slaughter; destine to the shambles.
Where it comes from
From Middle English schambyll, shamyll, schamel, from Old English sċeamol, scamol (“bench, stool”), from Proto-West Germanic *skamul, *skamil, from Proto-Germanic *skamulaz, *skamilaz, from Latin scamellum, a variant of scabellum (“footstool”). Cognate with West Frisian skammel (“shamble, trestle, stool", also (in the plural) "legs, especially when showing defects or deformities”), Dutch schemel (“footstool, bench”), German Schemel (“stool”), Danish skammel (“stool”). Icelandic skemill (“footstool”). The verb is probably derived from the adjective, itself from attributive use of the noun. Compare West Frisian skammelje (“to walk with a swaying gait, especially on deformed legs”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
1st
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
33.1%
of traced words share this origin (10,004)
branch · 33.1% of traced words
How it is built
Same root, SHAMBLE · 2 relatives in the game
Its etymology also names Danish, Dutch, Icelandic.
SHAMBLE in a sentence
“The economy is in shamble, his rating has plunged lower than any president's in recent history.”
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SHAMBLE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 46 boards so far. 163 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 148, 15 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 6 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 8, 29 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SHAMBLE starts with S and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ABEHLMS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that mean much the same
Near-synonyms of SHAMBLE. Not interchangeable at the board - the grid decides that - but close in meaning.
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 SHAMBL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 8
Could you have found SHAMBLE?
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 8 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER