Did you by any chance mean omertà?
Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A rule or code that prohibits speaking or divulging information about certain activities, especially the activities of a criminal organization.
Wiktionary
- n. alternative spelling of omertà.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a code of silence practiced by the Mafia; a refusal to give evidence to the police about criminal activities
Etymologies
- Italian omertà, perhaps from dialectal alteration of umiltà, humility, modesty, from Latin humilitās; see humility. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Rarely, if ever, has a Vatican official used the word "omerta" - a serious accusation in Italian -- to compare the reluctance of some in the Church to come clean on the abuse scandal with the Mafia's code of silence.”
“He asked Mr Murdoch if he had heard of the mafia and then asked if he had heard the phrase 'omerta', the mafia code of silence.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“Tom Watson asked James Murdoch, who is facing the Commons Select Committee for the second time, whether he was familiar with the mafia term 'omerta' - commonly defined as a "code of silence".”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“But on Wednesday the Vatican's top official for dealing with sexual abuse of minors, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, said hiding behind a culture of "omerta" - the Italian word for the Mafia's code of silence - would be deadly for the Church.”
“Venitis Greek omerta is code of silence against the Greek people!”
Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7
“phone hacking, Tom Watson MP asked James Murdoch whether he was familiar with the mafia term 'omerta' - commonly defined as a "code of silence".”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“And in a final slap to the Italian detective, Mr. Lally noted that Pellicano's computer passwords always included the term "omerta" -- the Sicilian word for code of silence.”
Allison Hope Weiner: The Pellicano Trial: The Detective's "Special Services"
“Another reason for the mafia's apparent decline is the death of "omerta" -- the code of silence.”
“A mafioso is paranoid about everything" - trusting the mafia code of silence - "omerta" - more than the medical code of patient confidentiality.”
“Paranoia and its tactical cousins, stonewalling and total enforcement of the Sicilian code of silence known as omerta, are supposed to be the first strategic blunders one learns about in an MBA crisis management course.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘omerta’.
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slackagogo's Words
agelast, aggiornamento, zaftig, wowserism, vox barbara, verbigeration, tchotchke, tautology, sycophant, spoonerism, solipsism, sobriquet and 288 more...
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omerta's list
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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I
The Unique
egoist, individualist, loner, hateful, asocial, inactive, anarchist, misanthrope, fascist, disturbed, bored, isolationist and 111 more...
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Nakoo's list of beautiful words.
Just about any word I like at the time.
razbliuto, anaxiphilia, lipothymous, inamorata, acushla, abulia, serendipity, alexithymia, quixotic, idiosyncratic, ad nauseam, equanimity and 305 more...
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richardr's Words
marmoreal, osteology, tyromancy, metalepsis, idioglossia, tapinosis, epicaricacy, carromancy, rogation, senex, aulic, gemütlichkeit and 279 more...
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2008 Wordlist
Hopefully, I'll be using this site for more than one year. It will be fun then to look back and see what new words I found worthy of notice in any given year.
All words spotted in 2008...longanimity, permalancer, breeder, biodegradable, handicapable, gender-neutral, translator, interpreter, translation, interpreting, kleptocracy, fanfiction and 1598 more...
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random assortment
antinomian ranter, supercilious, minion, carmine, circumlocution, mellisma, riverward, microtextual, callipygian, confelicitous, googlewhackery, dovetail and 179 more...
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Mafiosi
Words and expressions that relate to the Mafia and their activities.
camorra, racketeering, pizzo, la cosa nostra, honoured society, extortion, cupola, 'ndrangheta, kidnapping, trafficking, omerta, fraud and 24 more...
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While reading
littoral, manichean, omerta, opprobrium, discomfit, betise, tittle, pellucid, chiffonier, hagiographic, essoin, raiment and 35 more...
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Words
Tweets
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