Lexic.us

Definition of Mafia

1. Noun. A crime syndicate in the United States; organized in families; believed to have important relations to the Sicilian Mafia.

2. Noun. A secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the middle of the 19th century.

3. Noun. Any tightly knit group of trusted associates.

Definition of Mafia

1. Proper noun. (context: specifically) An international criminal organization of Sicilian origin operating in Italy and the United States. ¹

2. Proper noun. (by extension) Any organized crime syndicate operating internationally in high-level organized crime; (non-gloss definition often with a modifying adjective, such as a nationality). ¹

3. Noun. A crime syndicate ¹

4. Noun. A trusted group of associates of a political leader ¹

5. Noun. An in-group ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Mafia

1. a secret criminal organization [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Mafia

maffias maffick mafficked mafficker maffickers mafficking mafficks maffle maffled maffler

mafflers mafflin maffling mafflings mafflins mafia mafialike mafias mafic mafics

mafiosi mafioso mafiosos mafoo mafoos mafosfamide maftir maftirs mafufunyana mag

Literary usage of Mafia

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Picturesque Sicily by William Agnew Paton (1897)
"Other writers, seeking the root of the word in the Arabic, pretend that Mafia is derived from Ma-afir, the name of an Arab tribe anciently settled at ..."

2. The Treaty Making Power of the United States by Charles Henry Butler (1902)
"The Mafia Riots in New Orleans of 1891—On March 14, 1891, a number of Italians then confined in the jail in New Orleans, were forcibly taken from the jail ..."

3. Sicily, the New Winter Resort: An Encyclopaedia of Sicily by Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen (1907)
"It is generally believed among foreigners that the arrogant and oppressive spirit referred to in omerta and mafia, which tends to elude the courts of ..."

4. Sicily, the Garden of the Mediterranean: The History, People, Institutions by Will Seymour Monroe (1909)
"THE author does not wish to give the notion of a necessary relationship between hostelries, brigandage, and the Mafia; but he thinks that most travellers in ..."

5. The New Italy: A Discussion of Its Present Political and Social Conditions by Federico Garlanda (1911)
"We find in some parts of Italy, and especially in Sicily, that most loathsome plague spot, which is called the Mafia. It is true that we ourselves have ..."

6. The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries by Charles William Heckethorn (1897)
"VI THE Mafia 327. The Mafia's Code of Honour. ... When in 1885 the doings of the Mafia were discussed in the Italian Parliament, proofs were adduced that ..."

7. Southern Italy and Sicily and the Rulers of the South by Francis Marion Crawford (1907)
"Conclusion: The Mafia THE world at large knows little of modern Sicily, but that little ... The word is ' Mafia.' There is another which belongs to Naples, ..."

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