No kidding. "Integrity" was the word most looked-up on Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, as reported here.
Speaks highly of us as a culture, don’t it?
Then again, maybe people were looking up the spelling, not the definition.
Here’s the top ten list:
| Top 10 most looked-up words of 2005 |
|
1. integrity n. firm adherence to a code, especially moral or artistic values; incorruptibility. 2. refugee n. one that flees; especially a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution. 3. contempt n. willful disobedience to or open disrespect of a court, judge or legislative body. 4. filibuster n. the use of extreme dilatory tactics in an attempt to delay or prevent action, especially in a legislative assembly. 5. insipid adj. lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate or challenge; dull, flat. 6. tsunami n. a great sea wave produced especially by submarine earth movement or volcanic eruption. 7. pandemic n. occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population. 8. conclave n. a private meeting or secret assembly, especially a meeting of Roman Catholic cardinals secluded continuously while choosing a pope. 9. levee n. 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 n. generally incompetent; bungling. Source: www.m-w.com |
By the way, isn’t "inept" an adjective?