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SPINDRIFT

/ˈspɪndɹɪft/9 letters

Definition of SPINDRIFT

noun

Sea spray (clouds of water droplets) blown from the tops of waves by the wind and whipped along the surface of the sea.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Scots spindrift; further etymology uncertain. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it is a variant of spoondrift (archaic), apparently due to the pronunciation of this word in southwestern Scotland, which is derived from spoon + drift (“mass of matter driven or forced onward together in a body, etc., especially by wind or water”); spoon is a variant of spoom (“to sail briskly with the wind astern, with or without sails hoisted”). However, this is doubted by the Scottish National Dictionary because spoondrift is attested later than spindrift and it seems unlikely that the Scots spelling would have superseded the English one, and because the early use of the Scots word in the form spenedrift by James Melville (1556–1614) is unlikely to have derived from spoondrift. The word was popularized in English from the late 19th century by its use in the novels of the Scottish-born author William Black (1841–1898): see, for example, the 1878 quotation.

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

SPINDRIFT in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 15 boards so far. 25 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 97
Its 15 boards, across 97 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
15
Boards found on
8
First board
96
Latest board
18
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 8, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 96, 24 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.

First ever to find it

adragonlover5

on Day 8, 29 May 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

SPINDRIFT
9
Letters
2
Vowels
7
Consonants
8
Different letters
3
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

SPINDRIFT starts with S and ends with T. Sorted, its letters read DFIINPRST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. I 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 SPINDR

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

SPINDRIFTS

Could you have found SPINDRIFT?

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.

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