mafia

CEFRC1

/ˈmɑfi.ə/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    An organized crime group, especially one from Italy or Sicily.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A hierarchically structured secret organisation engaged in illegal activities like distribution of narcotics, gambling and extortion.

Examples

  • In Germany, the Italian mafia is an underestimated problem.

  • The Mafia uses legitimate business operations as a front.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A social deduction 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...

  2. A crime syndicate.

  3. A trusted group of associates, as of a political leader.

More examples

In context

  • The trial lawyers couldn't get past the Mafia leader's stonewalling tactics.

  • Somehow he managed to upset the Russian Mafia.

  • 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.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The illegal organization that controlled the city's underworld was a powerful blank.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Borrowed from Italian mafia, of uncertain origin. In the first instance, it is not clear whether the lemma in question is a Sicilian exonym or endonym, since written and oral sources on this term are scarce, the etymology remains uncertain and it's worthy of further investigation. It is possibly a regional term of the then recently established Kingdom of Italy; thus the meaning "spirit of hostility to the law" could be just derivative. The hypotheses put forward have been varied, but not very convincing from a reconstructive point of view. See Sicilian mafia for more. See, also, the Wikipedia article for more discussion of the origin of the word. Doublet of mafiya.