omertà

• omerta

Borrowed from Italian omertà, Southern dialectal variant of umiltà (“humility”), from Latin humilitās, from humilis (“humble”), from humus (“ground, soil”). Doublet of humility.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌəʊmɛːˈtɑː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /oʊˈmɛɹtə/
• Rhymes: -ɑː

omertà (countable and uncountable, plural omertàs)

1. (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; extensively, any code of silence.
   • 2005 March 4, Boston Globe:

     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.

   • 2006 October 27, Los Angeles Times:

     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.

   • 2016 October 1, “How the FDA Manipulates the Media”, in Scientific American‎:

     The FDA was not pleased that the omertà had been broken.

• wall of silence

• Moreta, Teramo, amoret, morate

Southern dialectal form of umiltà (“humility”), from Latin humilitātem, accusative of humilitās, from humilis (“humble”), from humus (“ground, soil”). See Sicilian umirtà.

• IPA^(key): /o.merˈta/, [omerˈt̪ä]
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: o‧mer‧tà

omertà f (invariable)

1. (rare, dialectal, southern Italy) Alternative form of umiltà (“humility”)
2. (crime) An omertà or any code of silence.

   Synonym: (wall of silence): reticenza

3. (extensively, derogatory) A form of solidarity among members of a group, constisting in hiding compromising truths; a wall of silence.

• omertoso

• remato, remota, Teramo