omertà
1
9.9
- noun
- /oʊˈmɛr.tə/
:
omertà
- Omertà had been bred into his genes.
- code of omertà
Examples
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He faced severe repercussions for breaking the omertà that silenced the entire community.
-
Omertà, and the punishment for violating it.
Blog text (29) -
Yet even the oath of omertà had organizational problems:
Academic text (2016) -
Omertà, the vow of silence.
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How would you scale this up to a national level, involving tens of millions of people, all of whom would have to be sworn to some sort of omertà blood oath?
Blog text (13) -
The lack of comments by most of the peloton regarding the Armstrong saga suggests that the omertà is still alive and well and that the peloton is still ruled by fear.
Blog text (13) -
In many criminal organizations, omertà ensures that members do not speak out against each other.
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The journalist struggled to find sources willing to talk, as omertà kept them silent about the corruption.
Synonyms
3
8.1
An agreement to stay silent to hide something wrong
3
7.2
A group's choice to stay silent to protect members from blame
2
9.9
A rule among Mafia members not to tell police about crimes
2
9.5
An unwritten rule among police officers not to report a colleague's illegal actions to protect them from punishment
1
9.9
A choice not to speak to avoid giving information
An agreement between people not to speak about something
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Etymology
Omertà comes from southern Italy, likely from the Sicilian word umirtà and the Italian umiltà, which means 'humility'. So think of it as a kind of 'humble' silence: people kept quiet and would not tell the police, which is why omertà means a strict code of silence.