The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
VIRTUAL
Definition of VIRTUAL
adjective
In effect or essence, rather than in fact or reality; also, imitated, simulated.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The adjective is derived from Middle English vertual, virtual [and other forms], from Old French vertüal, vertüelle (modern French virtuel), or from their etymon Medieval Latin virtuālis (“of or pertaining to potency or power; having power to produce an effect, potent; morally virtuous”), from Latin virtūs (“goodness, virtue; manliness, virility”) (from vir (“adult male, man”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man”), possibly from *weyh₁- (“to chase, hunt, pursue”)) + -tūs (suffix forming collective or abstract nouns)) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship), modelled after virtuōsus (“good, virtuous”). Sense 4 (“pertaining to a theoretical infinitesimal velocity in a mechanical system that does not violate the system’s constraints”) is borrowed from French virtuel, from Middle French virtuel, from Old French vertüal, vertüelle: see above. The noun is derived from the adjective.
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.
VIRTUAL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 30 boards so far. 58 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 9, 29 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 101, 29 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 9, 29 May 2026.
Built from these letters
VIRTUAL starts with V and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read AILRTUV - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
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 VIRTUA
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 9
Could you have found VIRTUAL?
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 9 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER