Mafia meaning

mä'fē-ə
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.
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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.
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Any of various similar criminal organizations, especially when dominated by members of the same nationality.
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A tightly knit group of trusted associates, as of a political leader.
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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.
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Any group engaged in organized crime.

The Russian mafia.

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Any exclusive, dominating group.
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(in compound terms such as "moral mafia") An entity which attempts to control a specified arena.

The digital mafia.

The literary mafia.

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(specifically) An international criminal organization of Sicilian origin operating in Italy and the United States.
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(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.

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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".
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Alternative capitalization of mafia (an entity which attempts to control a specified arena).
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Origin of mafia

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.

Sentence Examples

  • Here and there it was based upon a bastard Socialism, ~ in other places it was made a means of municipal ~ party warfare under the guidance of the local mafia, and in some districts it was simply popular effervescence against the local octrois on.

  • And Arthur's not smart enough to be a Mafia lawyer.

  • I just don't fool around with married women, especially a woman wed to a Mafia lawyer.

  • In Naples, the Camorra and in Sicily, the Mafia are secret societies whose power of resistance to authority is still not inconsiderable.

  • Some of the definitions would apply to the authority of powerful religious bodies in certain periods of history, or of illegal associations, such as the Mafia, which have terrorized the community.

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Related articles

Words near mafia in the Dictionary