monopoly

noun

mo·​nop·​o·​ly mə-ˈnä-p(ə-)lē 

plural monopolies

1

: exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action

2

: exclusive possession or control

no country has a monopoly on morality or truth

—Helen M. Lynd

3

: a commodity controlled by one party

had a monopoly on flint from their quarries

—Barbara A. Leitch

4

: one that has a monopoly

The government passed laws intended to break up monopolies.

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

The government passed laws intended to break up monopolies.

Recent Examples on the Web

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of consumers and advertisers, alleges Meta is a monopoly in the social media market. —Maxwell Zeff / Gizmodo, Quartz, 28 Mar. 2024

Broadly speaking, the Antitrust suit accuses Apple of being a monopoly and engaging in anticompetitive behavior. —Michael Calore Lauren Goode, WIRED, 28 Mar. 2024

Kanter, Khan, and their allies are basically claiming that rising monopoly power is a serious problem in many different parts of the economy, not just the technology sector, and that the country’s courts and policymakers need to address it aggressively across the board. —John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024

With the Supreme Court predicting the end of the monopoly of college amateurism, the recent termination of the monopoly on real estate agent commissions seems an apt analogy for a deeply entrenched American institution that is fundamentally corrupt. —Guy Lawson, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2024

At the time, the DOJ accused Dentsply of maintaining a monopoly in the artificial teeth business. —Emma Roth, The Verge, 22 Mar. 2024

The law was aimed at breaking up the monopoly system that allowed a private nonprofit --- the United Network for Organ Sharing -- to be the sole contractor managing the country's Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) for over 40 years. —Laura Romero, ABC News, 21 Mar. 2024

In doing so, UFC maintained and increased its monopoly power, meaning mixed martial arts fighters who wanted to have a career in the sport could only work for the company, diluting their earning potential, according to the lawsuits. —Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024

The government also said Apple had tried to maintain its monopoly by not allowing other companies to build their own digital wallets. —Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 22 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin monopolium, from Greek monopōlion, from mon- + pōlein to sell

First Known Use

1534, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing monopoly

• anti-monopoly

Kids Definition

monopoly

noun

mo·​nop·​o·​ly mə-ˈnäp-(ə-)lē 

plural monopolies

1

a

: complete control over the entire supply of goods or a service in a certain market

b

: complete possession

2

: a commercial product or service controlled by one person or company

3

: a company that has a monopoly

Legal Definition

monopoly

noun

mo·​nop·​o·​ly mə-ˈnä-pə-lē 

plural monopolies

1

: exclusive control of a particular market that is marked by the power to control prices and exclude competition and that especially is developed willfully rather than as the result of superior products or skill see also antitrust, Sherman Antitrust Act

2

: one that has a monopoly