mafia

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.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑfi.ə/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæfi.ə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

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 by violence or threats.
   • 1994, Francis Wheen, Lord Gnome's Literary Companion, page 161:

     Worse, it confirms what one always suspected about the 1930s literary mafia, with their graceless posing and relentless self-obsession — what terrible , terrible bores they were.

   • 2000, Senator Robert Torricelli, Andrew Carroll, In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century, page 432:

     Since the victory of gadgetry is "inevitable," you might as well come along quietly and let us smother you in speed and convenience, says the digital mafia.

   • 2019, Anne Holt, In Dust and Ashes, page 83:

     I can scarcely leave the apartment without being engulfed by journalists, not to mention the fucking left-wing activists and the multicultural mafia that assailed me with spitting and verbal abuse the last time I ventured out […]

Borrowed from English mafia.

mafia c (singular definite mafiaen, plural indefinite mafiaer)

1. A mafia.

• mafiafamilie

From Italian mafia.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑfiɑ/, [ˈmɑ̝fiɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑfiɑ
• Syllabification^(key): ma‧fi‧a

mafia

1. mafia

• “mafia”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

• IPA^(key): /ma.fja/

• Audio

  (file)

mafia f (plural mafias)

1. the Mafia

• “mafia”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from Italian mafia.

mafia f (plural mafias)

1. Mafia (Italian Mafia)
2. Mafia (any criminal organisation)

   Synonym: cartel

• mafioso

Borrowed from Sicilian mafiusu, of uncertain origin.[1] Most likely from Arabic مَهْيَاص (mahyāṣ, “cocky, bragger”)[2] (compare Hebrew מָחַץ (“makháts”) to crush, though Piedmontese mafio[3][4] is considered another possible source.

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.fja/
• Rhymes: -afja
• Hyphenation: mà‧fia

mafia f (plural mafie)

1. the Mafia (International organized crime organization)
2. mafia (Individual branch)
3. arrogance

• mafioso
• mafiologo
• mafiosità

• → German: Mafia
• → Turkish: mafya
• → Maltese: mafja
• → Romanian: mafie
• → Russian: ма́фия (máfija)
• → Spanish: mafia

• (non-standard since 1987) maffia

mafia m (definite singular mafiaen, indefinite plural mafiaer, definite plural mafiaene)

1. mafia, Mafia

• (non-standard since 1987) maffia

mafia m (definite singular mafiaen, indefinite plural mafiaer or mafiaar, definite plural mafiaene or mafiaane)

1. mafia, Mafia

Borrowed from Italian mafia, from Sicilian.

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.fja/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -afja
• Syllabification: ma‧fia

mafia f

1. mafia (crime syndicate)

   Synonym: ośmiornica

2. mafia (trusted group of associates, as of a political leader)

• mafia in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• mafia in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from Italian mafia.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmafja/ [ˈma.fja]
• Rhymes: -afja
• Syllabification: ma‧fia

mafia f (plural mafias)

1. Mafia (Italian Mafia)
2. Mafia (any criminal organization)

   Synonym: cartel

• “mafia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014