America in one word? 'Free,' 'great,' or 'divided,' 'broken'

The most-uttered word from about 1,000 responses to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey was "freedom," with "free" not far behind at No. 4.

Pollsters say grouping people's answers together with synonyms and related words is a better reflection of public sentiment.

Some 18 percent of respondents offered words related to American greatness, prosperity and power, which collectively ranked second, followed by those linked to freedom (15 percent), and confused, ''lost and similar choices (10 percent).

"When you see words like 'freedom' and 'divided' together, you get a good little portrait of what people are thinking," said Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster, the dictionary publisher.

With killings of police officers, Islamic State group attacks, a divisive election and concerns about the economy and illegal immigration, Underwood said he was left with an unhappy word in his mind.

More than 350 individual words flowed into the poll released this week — from bossy, ''boring, ''bountiful and bigoted to eclectic, ''enthusiastic and equal.