Noun mafia has 3 senses
- Mafia, Maffia, Cosa Nostra - a crime syndicate in the United States; organized in families; believed to have important relations to the Sicilian Mafia
--1 is a kind of syndicate, crime syndicate, mob, family
--1 has members: mafioso
- Mafia, Maffia, Sicilian Mafia - a secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the middle of the 19th century
--2 is a kind of organized crime, gangland, gangdom
--2 has members: mafioso
- mafia, maffia - any tightly knit group of trusted associates
--3 is a kind of clique, coterie, ingroup, inner circle, pack, camp
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