The AI-powered English dictionary
countable and uncountable, plural omertàs
(crime) A code of silence amongst members of a criminal organization (especially the Mafia) that forbids divulging insider secrets to law enforcement, often also followed outside of the organization in fear of retaliation; (by extension) any code of silence. quotations examples
Patriarca pleaded guilty in December 1991 to racketeering and conspiracy charges, but he refused to admit he was a member of the Mafia, clinging to his vow of ‘omerta’ to the secret organization.
2005 March 4, Boston Globe
There was a time that high-profile killings such as the 1968 assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. brought passionate cries for limitations on handguns. A bipartisan omerta now smothers the issue.
2006 October 27, Los Angeles Times
The FDA was not pleased that the omertà had been broken.
2016 October, “How the FDA Manipulates the Media”, in Scientific American
Despite criticising what he called an “omertà” in British politics about Brexit, he expressed some sympathy for the Labour leader Keir’s wariness about the issue.
2023 October 6, Heather Stewart, quoting Sadiq Khan, “‘Choose London’: Sadiq Khan steps up efforts to lure EU citizens post-Brexit”, in The Guardian