SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – Following is a list of the 10 most frequently looked up words and their definitions on Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary site.
1. Integrity: Firm adherence to a code, especially moral or artistic values; incorruptibility.
2. Refugee: One that flees; especially a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution.
3. Contempt: Willful disobedience to or open disrespect of a court, judge or legislative body.
4. Filibuster: The use of extreme dilatory tactics in an attempt to delay or prevent action, especially in a legislative assembly.
5. Insipid: Lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate or challenge; dull, flat.
6. Tsunami: A great sea wave produced especially by submarine earth movement or volcanic eruption.
7. Pandemic: Occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population.
8. Conclave: A private meeting or secret assembly, especially a meeting of Roman Catholic cardinals secluded continuously while choosing a pope.
9. Levee: An embankment for preventing flooding; a continuous dike or ridge (as of earth) for confining the irrigation areas of land to be flooded.
10: Inept: generally incompetent; bungling.
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Source: Merriam-Webster
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