name · noun · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
US:/ˈmɑfi.ə/
UK:/ˈmæfi.ə/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:M AA1 F IY0 AH0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
name
Meaning 1
The Mob: any particular mafia, mentioned uniquely within the discussion's established or implicit context, usually and especially the Sicilian-Italian–Italian-American one (especially in American English) but occasionally others (e.g., the Russian one, the Japanese one).
The international criminal organization of Sicilian origin operating in Italy and the United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Mob, Cosa Nostra
Antonyms: none provided
2
name
Meaning 2
The Mob: any particular mafia, mentioned uniquely within the discussion's established or implicit context, usually and especially the Sicilian-Italian–Italian-American one (especially in American English) but occasionally others (e.g., the Russian one, the Japanese one).
Any other specific organized crime syndicate operating internationally in high-level organized crime; often with a modifying adjective, such as a nationality.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
Somehow he managed to upset the Russian Mafia.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Mob
Antonyms: none provided
3
name
Meaning 3
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 before they are all "murdered".
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: games
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
A hierarchically structured secret organisation engaged in illegal activities like distribution of narcotics, gambling and extortion.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
A crime syndicate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
A trusted group of associates, as of a political leader.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
noun
Meaning 7
An entity which attempts to control a specified arena by violence or threats.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: in-compounds
Examples
moral mafia
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
any tightly knit group of trusted associates
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
a secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the middle of the 19th century
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Maffia, Sicilian Mafia
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: organized crime, gangland, gangdom
10
noun
Meaning 10
a crime syndicate in the United States; organized in families; believed to have important relations to the Sicilian Mafia
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Maffia, Cosa Nostra
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: syndicate, crime syndicate, mob, family
History
Etymology
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.
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.
Across languages
Translations
91 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Arabic:
مافيا
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
Chinese Cantonese:
黑手黨 /黑手党
(hak1 sau2 dong2)
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
Chinese Mandarin:
黑手黨 /黑手党
(hēishǒudǎng)
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
Czech:
mafie
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
Esperanto:
Mafio
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
Finnish:
mafia
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
German:
Mafia
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
Greek:
Μαφία
(Mafía)
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
Italian:
Mafia
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
Romanian:
Mafia
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
Sicilian:
Mafia
— international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
