Searches for the definition of the word ‘suborn’ spiked on Tuesday after former CIA director John Brennan used it while testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, according to Merriam-Webster.
The dictionary company — known for its recent push in responding to political language on Twitter — said look ups for the word were up more than 28,000% after Brennan’s testimony about contacts between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Tuesday morning.
While testifying, Brennan said he knew of intelligence that revealed contacts between members of Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.
“I was concerned about [that intelligence] because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals,” Brennan said.
According to Merriam-Webster, to suborn is “to induce secretly to do an unlawful thing.”
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