SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – In a year filled with political wrangling, natural disasters and pop culture curiosities, Americans turned to Merriam-Webster to help define it all.

Filibuster. Refugee. Tsunami. Each was among the dictionary publisher’s 10 most frequently looked-up words among some 7 million users of its online site.

But topping the list is a word that some say gives insight into the country’s collective concern about its values: Integrity.

The noun, formally defined as a “firm adherence to a code” and “incorruptibility,” has always been a popular one on the Springfield company’s Web site, says Merriam-Webster president John Morse. But this year, the true meaning of integrity seemed to be of extraordinary concern. About 200,000 people sought an online definition for it.

“I think the American people have isolated a very important issue for our society to be dealing with,” Morse said. “People are using the word in conversations about politics, businesses, the media and educational institutions, and want to be sure of its meaning. The entire list gives us an interesting window that opens up into what people are thinking about in their lives.”

Ralph Whitehead, a journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts, has a few guesses as to why integrity was looked up so often.

“My guess is that we all regard integrity as an important character trait,” he said. “But we probably now differ vastly in our ideas of what constitutes integrity.”

Perhaps, he says, it indicates an extension of the discussion about American values and morality that followed last year’s presidential election.

His more cynical view is that integrity itself is becoming scarce, so its definition is unfamiliar.

“You hope integrity is a word everyone understands,” he said. “The danger is that integrity is a word that describes something that is in short supply. Maybe people are looking it up like they’re looking up Conestoga wagon.”‘

At the bottom of the list is “inept,” a word that Morse said was getting a lot of attention in the days after President Bush delivered a live prime time news conference that came to an awkward end when some television networks cut him off to return to their regularly scheduled programs.

“People were perceiving the president as inept,” Morse said. “But there was an inept ending to the news conference. You can say the networks were inept.”

Sandwiched between “integrity” and “inept” is a cluster of nouns and an adjective or two obviously plucked from the headlines.

“Refugee” and “levee” are certainly linked to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, while “tsunami” jumped in popularity after one ravaged countries along the Indian Ocean last December.

“Filibuster” gained in popularity as Democrats threatened to use the procedural tool in the Senate to block federal judicial nominees, and “contempt” drew plenty of attention when former New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for failing to reveal a source in the CIA leak case.

The election of a new pope following the death of John Paul II left thousands wondering exactly what a conclave is, and news about the spread of infectious diseases led to a need to understand the term “pandemic.”

But the Top Ten list is by no means an indication that Americans were curious or baffled only by weighty topics.

Immediately after Simon Cowell, the acid-tongued host of the popular television show “American Idol,” called one aspiring singer “insipid,” Merriam-Webster noticed a dramatic spike in the number of lookups for the word, which the dictionary defines as “lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate or challenge: dull, flat.”

“This guy hit exactly the right word for the performance and it resonated,” Morse said. “People engaged the word, but they asked themselves “what does it exactly mean?”‘

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On the Net:

www.merriam-webster.com

AP-ES-12-10-05 1759EST