Mafia: Meaning and Definition of

Ma•fi•a

1. a hierarchically structured secret organization allegedly engaged in smuggling, racketeering, trafficking in narcotics, and other criminal activities in the U.S., Italy, and elsewhere.
2. (in Sicily)
1. (l.c.) a popular spirit of hostility to legal restraint and to the law, often manifesting itself in criminal acts.
2. a 19th-century secret society, similar to the Camorra in Naples, that acted in this spirit.
3. (often l.c.) any small powerful or influential group in an organization or field; clique.