syndicates

Noun

syndicate (plural syndicates)

1. A group of individuals or companies formed to transact some specific business, or to promote a common interest; a self-coordinating group.
   • a gambling syndicate
   1. (crime) A group of gangsters engaged in organized crime.
      • Held at the estate of Mafia boss Joseph Barbara in Apalachin, NY, the meeting called by [Vito] Genovese in November 1957 brought over 100 mobsters from around the country to cement his power over the national crime syndicate.1999, John Madinger, “Case Development”, in Confidential Informant: Law Enforcement’s Most Valuable Tool, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 178
   2. (mass media) A group of media companies, or an agency, formed to acquire content such as articles, cartoons, etc., and to publish it in multiple outlets; a chain of newspapers or other media outlets managed by such an organization.
      • In the mid-1880s, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt broke into print inauspiciously as one member of the stable of writers who supplied humorous sketches and mildly sentimental or didactic squibs for S[amuel] S[idney] McClure's newspaper syndicate.1980, Wiliam L. Andrews, “The Apprentice Years: Experiments and Decisions”, in The Literary Career of Charles W. Chesnutt, Baton Rouge, La.; London: Louisiana State University Press, →ISBN, page 17
2. The office or jurisdiction of a syndic; a body or council of syndics.
   • The ſoveraintie lies in the Council of 200, and this Council chuſes out of its number 25, who are the leſſer Council; […] they are choſen by a ſort of ballet, ſo that it is not known for whom they give their votes, which is an effectual method to ſuppreſs factions and reſentments; ſince in a...1686, G[ilbert] Burnet, Some Letters Containing, an Account of What Seemed Most Remarkable in Switzerland, Italy, &c. Written by G. Burnett, D.D. to T[he] H[onourable] R[obert] B[oyle], Rotterdam...

See all 7 meanings of syndicate