The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SUBOPTIMAL
Definition of SUBOPTIMAL
adjective
Worse than optimal; of less than the highest standard or quality.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From sub- + optimal.
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.
SUBOPTIMAL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 22 boards so far. 51 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 110, 7 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First found by a player on Day 7, 28 May 2026.
Built from these letters
SUBOPTIMAL starts with S and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read ABILMOPSTU - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start SUBOPT
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 7
Could you have found SUBOPTIMAL?
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 7 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER