Found 2 items, similar to mafia.
English → English (WordNet)
Definition: Mafia
Mafia
n 1: a crime syndicate in the United States; organized in
families; believed to have important relations to the
Sicilian Mafia [syn:
Maffia,
Cosa Nostra]
2: a secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed
tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the
middle of the 19th century [syn:
Maffia,
Sicilian Mafia]
3: any tightly knit group of trusted associates [syn:
maffia]
English → English (gcide)
Definition: mafia
organized crime
\organized crime\ n.
Groups of persons organized for illegal purposes, such as
bootlegging, conducting illegal gambling, loansharking,
extortion, etc.; -- a general term encompassing most forms of
criminal groups, but especially those that are consolidated
into
“families” more or less recognizing each other's
different regions of operation; sometimes considered
synonymous with the
mafia or the
syndicate.
[PJC]
Syndicate
\Syn"di*cate\, n. [Cf. F. syndicat, LL. syndicatus.]
1. The office or jurisdiction of a syndic; a council, or body
of syndics. --Bp. Burnet.
[1913 Webster]
2. An association of persons officially authorized to
undertake some duty or to negotiate some business; also,
an association of persons who combine to carry out, on
their own account, a financial or industrial project; as,
a syndicate of bankers formed to take up and dispose of an
entire issue of government bonds.
[1913 Webster]
3. A more or less organized association of criminals
controlling some aspects of criminal activity, in a
specific area or country-wide; -- used loosely as a
synonym for
organized crime or the
mafia.
[PJC]
4. (Journalism) a commercial organization that purchases
various journalistic items, such as articles, columns, or
comic strips, from their individual creators, and resells
them to newspapers or other periodicals for simultaneous
publication over a wide area.
[PJC]