The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
STRATAGEM
Definition of STRATAGEM
noun
A tactic or artifice designed to gain the upper hand, especially one involving underhanded dealings or deception.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English stratageme, from Old French stratageme, from Latin strategema, from Ancient Greek στρατήγημα (stratḗgēma, “the act of a general, a piece of generalship”), from στρατηγέω (stratēgéō, “to be a general, command an army”), from στρατηγός (stratēgós, “a general, the leader or commander of an army”). See strategy.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
4 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.3%
of traced words share this origin (10,575)
branch · 12.3% of traced words
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.
STRATAGEM in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 3 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 148, 15 October 2026. The most recent board was Day 173, 9 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 148, 15 October 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
STRATAGEM starts with S and ends with M. Sorted, its letters read AAEGMRSTT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. T and A appear more than once.
Words that start STRATA
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found STRATAGEM?
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 148 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER