omerta

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“
Free from GM's code of omerta, the perpetual "loose cannon" could "out" the defenders of the status quo.

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Definitions (2)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A rule or code that prohibits speaking or divulging information about certain activities, especially the activities of a criminal organization.

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Examples (50)

  • The only thing that could have made it a little worse would be if everyone adhered to the hip hop code of omerta that asks kids to vote against their best interests for the sake of some vague grudge against the "rules." —  WNYMedia
  • I guess it could be argued that advancing this argument, as a practical matter, will make it more likely that others induce more mean-spirited arguments, and that, therefore, the most prudent policy towards it is an omerta. —  Obsidian Wings
  • Andrew Breitbart, the conservative founder of Breitbart. com, has launched the website "Big Hollywood" as a cyberspace watering hole for Tinseltown conservatives, complete with space for crocodile tears over their allegedly losing movie roles for breaking Hollywood's liberal omerta. —  SocraticGadfly
  • The Sopranos and Big Love, HBO has made available a 10-minute clip of the first episode of we did our best, but omerta still reigns there, so no preview clips, but there is this addictive —  Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch
  • The time-frame was during two weeks in Los Angeles in 1991 and the then-85 year old director apparently felt so comfortable chatting with Schl�ndorff in his original language that he began to speak "out of school," violating the oath of omerta that rules over Hollywood, even decades after events. —  GreenCine Daily
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Italian omertà, perhaps from dialectal alteration of umiltà, humility, modesty, from Latin humilitās; see humility.
 

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