'Refudiate' Oxford's word of the year

WASILLA, Alaska, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The New Oxford American Dictionary has picked "refudiate," a word former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin used on her Twitter feed, as word of the year.

Oxford University Press said the word coined by the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee is the U.S. dictionary's word of the year, with the definition reading, "verb used loosely to mean 'reject.'"

Oxford said there is evidence of the word being used prior to Palin's Twitter postings, but it was her use that brought the word widespread attention.

The word was chosen over 10 others on the short list, including "bankster," a predatory banking professional; "crowdsourcing," using a group of freelancers to work on a task; "gleek," a fan of Fox TV series "Glee"; and "Tea Party," the anti-tax political movement started in 2009.