mafia
see also: Mafia
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /ˈmɑfi.ə/
  • (British) IPA: /ˈmæfi.ə/
Noun

mafia (plural mafias)

  1. A hierarchically structured secret organisation engaged in illegal activities like distribution of narcotics, gambling and extortion.
  2. A crime syndicate.
  3. A trusted group of associates, as of a political leader.
  4. (in compound terms such as "moral mafia") An entity which attempts to control a specified arena.
    the digital mafia
    the literary mafia
Translations
Mafia
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /ˈmɑfi.ə/
  • (British) IPA: /ˈmæfi.ə/
Proper noun
  1. (specifically) An international criminal organization of Sicilian origin operating in Italy and the United States.
    Synonyms: Cosa Nostra
  2. (by extension) Any organized crime syndicate operating internationally in high-level organized crime; often with a modifying adjective, such as a nationality.
    Synonyms: mob
    Somehow he managed to upset the Russian Mafia.
  3. 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".
  4. Alternative letter-case form of mafia (“an entity which attempts to control a specified arena”)
Translations Translations


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