monopoly
noun
Helen M. LyndBarbara A. Leitch
Did you know?
You're probably familiar with the word monopoly, but you may not recognize its conceptual and linguistic relative, the much rarer oligopsony. Both monopoly and oligopsony are ultimately from Greek, although monopoly passed through Latin before being adopted into English. Monopoly comes from the Greek prefix mono-, which means "one," and pōlein, "to sell." Oligopsony derives from the combining form olig-, meaning "few," and the Greek noun opsōnia—"the purchase of victuals"—which is ultimately from the combination of opson, "food," and ōneisthai, "to buy." It makes sense, then, that oligopsony refers to a buyer's market in which the seller is subjected to the potential demands of a limited pool of buyers. Another related word is monopsony, used for a more extreme oligopsony in which there is only a single buyer.
Examples of monopoly in a Sentence
Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2026
Many of the large monopoly claims were thrown out during a pretrial hearing with Judge Subramanian last month, including an allegation that Live Nation’s industry power raises ticket prices and harms consumers.
—Cerys Davies, Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2026
China has about a third of the world’s rare earth reserves but a near monopoly on supplies.
—ABC News, 2 Mar. 2026
When the same firm profits from both a monopoly utility and energy-intensive development, people rightly start asking harder questions about whose needs come first.
—Matt Parr, Chicago Tribune, 28 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for monopoly
Cite this Entry
“Monopoly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monopoly. Accessed 5 Mar. 2026.
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monopoly
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monopoly
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