Mafia - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: Mafia

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

Ma·fi·a

Audio Help [mah-fee-uh, maf-ee-uh] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a hierarchically structured secret organization allegedly engaged in smuggling, racketeering, trafficking in narcotics, and other criminal activities in the U.S., Italy, and elsewhere.

(in Sicily)

a.	(lowercase) a popular spirit of hostility to legal restraint and to the law, often manifesting itself in criminal acts.

b.	a 19th-century secret society, similar to the Camorra in Naples, that acted in this spirit.

3.	(often lowercase) any small powerful or influential group in an organization or field; clique.

Also, Maf·fi·a.

[Origin: 1870–75; < It < Sicilian: orig., elegance, bravura, courage; of obscure orig.; the word's history prior to the 19th century is unknown, though many fictitious ideas have circulated regarding its age, source, etc., due to the organization's modern notoriety

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Mafia

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Ma·fi·a Audio Help (mä'fē-ə) Pronunciation Key
n.

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.
A secret criminal organization operating mainly in Sicily since the early 19th century and known for its intimidation of and retribution against law enforcement officials and witnesses.
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).

[Italian, perhaps from dialectal mafia, bluster, boldness.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
mafia

1875, from It. Mafia "Sicilian secret society of criminals" (the prevailing sense outside Sicily), earlier, "spirit of hostility to the law and its ministers," from It. (Sicilian) mafia "boldness, bravado," probably from Ar. mahjas "aggressive, boasting, bragging." Or perhaps from O.Fr. mafler "to gluttonize, devour."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

mafia
noun
1.	a crime syndicate in the United States; organized in families; believed to have important relations to the Sicilian Mafia
2.	a secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the middle of the 19th century
3.	any tightly knit group of trusted associates

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Mafia [(mah-fee-uh)]

A criminal organization that originated in Sicily and was brought to the United States by Italian immigrants in the late nineteenth century. The Mafia is also called the Syndicate, the Mob, and the Cosa Nostra (Our Thing). The Mafia built its power through extortion (forcing tradesmen and shopkeepers to buy Mafia protection against destruction) and by dominating the bootlegging industry (the illegal production and distribution of liquor) during Prohibition. Members of the Mafia often lead outwardly respectable lives and maintain a variety of legitimate businesses as a front, or cover, for their criminal activities, which include extortion, gambling, and narcotics distribution.

[Chapter:] American History since 1865

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MAFIA

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