Mafia

Ma·fi·a

in the U.S. and elsewhere, a secret society, of Italian origin, engaged in such illegal activities as gambling, prostitution, and illicit trade in narcotics
[m-]Informal any group engaged in organized crime: the Russian mafia
[m-] any exclusive, dominating group

Origin of Mafia

from Italian (Sicilian), name for a Sicilian secret society

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"Mafia." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/MAFIA>.

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Mafia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/MAFIA

Mafia

noun

a. A secret criminal organization operating mainly in Sicily since the early 1800s and known for its intimidation of and retribution against law enforcement officials and witnesses.
b. A secret criminal organization operating mainly in the United States and Italy and engaged in illegal activities such as gambling, drug-dealing, protection, and prostitution.
Any of various similar criminal organizations, especially when dominated by members of the same nationality.
often mafia Informal A tightly knit group of trusted associates, as of a political leader: “[He] is one of the personal mafia that [the chancellor] brought with him to Bonn” ( Christian Science Monitor )

Origin of Mafia

Italian back-formation from mafiuso, mafioso Mafioso ; see Mafioso .

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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MLA Style

"Mafia." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/MAFIA>.

APA Style

Mafia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/MAFIA

Noun

(plural mafias)

A crime syndicate.
A trusted group of associates, as of a political leader.
(in compound terms such as "moral mafia") An entity which attempts to control a specified arena.
the digital mafia
the literary mafia

Origin

See Mafia. The sense "entity which attempts to control a specified arena" makes an analogy to crime-syndicate mafias' attempts to control certain kinds of business in the regions in which they exist.

Proper noun

(specifically) An international criminal organization of Sicilian origin operating in Italy and the United States.
(by extension) Any organized crime syndicate operating internationally in high-level organized crime; often with a modifying adjective, such as a nationality.
Somehow he managed to upset the Russian Mafia.
A party game modelling a conflict between an informed minority (the mafia) and an uninformed majority (the innocents). Each player is secretly assigned a role within one of these teams, and the innocents attempt to identify the mafia members before they are all "murdered".
Alternative capitalization of mafia (an entity which attempts to control a specified arena).

Origin

From Italian. Perhaps from Italian mafia (“spirit of hostility to the law") or from Sicilian mafia (“boldness, bravado"). See the Wikipedia article for more discussion of the origin of the word.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"Mafia." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/MAFIA>.

APA Style

Mafia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/MAFIA

Mafia

Mafia

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Mafia

Mafia

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