Austerity, defined as "the quality or state of being austere" and "enforced or extreme economy," is Merriam-Webster's 2010 word of the year, the dictionary's president announced Monday.

John Morse, Merriam-Webster's president and publisher, said the noun saw more than 250,000 searches on the dictionary's free online tool. Its sudden popularity is undoubtedly linked to global interest in the European debt crisis and the austerity measures implemented by some European countries.

"What we look for ... what are the words that have had spikes that strike us very much as an anomaly for their regular behaviour," Morse told The Associated Press. "The word that really qualifies this year for that is austerity."

Runners-up also announced Monday included pragmatic, moratorium and socialism.

Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor-at-large, said this year's top words were associated with a news event or coverage, which editors believe resulted in prolonged jumps in searches.

For example, "socialism" was searched, editors believe, because of coverage around federal bailouts and Democratic-backed federal health-care legislation. And editors noticed that "pragmatic" was looked up a number of times after midterm elections.

With files from The Associated Press

What words best define 2010 for you? Can you sum up 2010 in one word? Let us know in the comments below.