- mafia
- 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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
