The 10 most frequently looked up words and their definitions, according to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary site:Curious list. Some of these have obvious explanations. The press switched from the popular term "tidal wave" to "tsunami", so everyone had to look it up.
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.
My hunch is that people had to look up other words because there confused by changing meanings. I always thought that a "filibuster" was just a delay in a vote, caused by a dissenter who wants to give some speeches. In the last couple of years, a lot of people have used it to mean blocking a vote from every taking place.
