New Oxford American Dictionary has picked ‘Refudiate’ as the 2010 Word of the Year. Other words on the shortlist included crowdsourcing , gleek, retweet, and Tea Party.

Here’s why they chose the word: “An unquestionable buzzmaker in 2010, the word refudiate instantly evokes the name of Sarah Palin, who tweeted her way into a flurry of media activity when she used the word in certain statements posted on Twitter. Critics pounced on Palin, lampooning what they saw as nonsensical vocabulary and speculating on whether she meant ‘refute’ or ‘repudiate.’”

Last year, the company chose “unfriend”–linguistic shorthand for breaking off a friendship in virtual space, the end of a social networking relationship on Facebook or other site.