omertà
Americannoun
noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Guardian's media editor Jim Waterson wrote that his decision to speak out "has broken the omertà around the secret agreements between British television and the royal family over coverage of formal events".
From BBC • Sep. 15, 2023
Who broke the Cosa Nostra oath of omertà?
From Salon • Aug. 18, 2022
“It broke a wall of silence — the omertà — of nearly half a century, where misbehavior went unreported,” said Marty Appel, a former public relations director for the Yankees and author of “Pinstripe Empire.”
From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2020
“A much more proactive stance. Of the sort like sending your top prosecutor to investigate Chile. A stance where the pope, when he sees or suspects an institutional omertà, he reacts.”
From Washington Post • Jul. 28, 2018
Without omertà the mafia would hardly flourish, and the mafia is not so easy to understand.
From Castellinaria and Other Sicilian Diversions by Jones, Henry Festing
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
