oligarch

noun

ol·​i·​garch ˈä-lə-ˌgärk  ˈō- 

plural oligarchs

1

: a member or supporter of an oligarchy

2

in Russia and other countries that succeeded the Soviet Union : one of a class of individuals who through private acquisition of state assets amassed great wealth that is stored especially in foreign accounts and properties and who typically maintain close links to the highest government circles

But what does it really mean to be a Russian oligarch … ? … in Russian politics, the term first came about in the 1990s to describe a dozen or so powerful men who amassed immense wealth following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

—The Business Insider

The task force will pool the resources of the countries' law enforcement divisions to track down the assets of Russian oligarchs stashed overseas, a difficult task complicated by the opaque or complicated financial instruments frequently used by Russian financial elites to hide their holdings from public view.

—Jeff Stein

… young Armenians, who joined the protests in droves, angry that the same small club of politicians and oligarchs has controlled the country since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

—Neil Macfarquhar

Examples of oligarch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The two men spoke with disdain for Europe, and Szijjártó agreed to help in removing an Uzbek-Russian oligarch’s sister from a European sanctions list. —Kapil Komireddi, New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2026

And that goes double for an industry in which the largest shareholders are often foreign sovereign wealth funds or idiosyncratically authoritarian oligarchs, foreign or domestic. —Morgan Chalfant, semafor.com, 10 Apr. 2026

The police made little headway, but Zac’s parents, Rachelle and Matthew, were determined to find out what happened to their son, who had been leading a secret life pretending to be the son of a Russian oligarch. —Erik Pedersen, Oc Register, 9 Apr. 2026

My kids went to a private school with the children of a real Russian oligarch and others whose families were fantastically rich. —Frank Langfitt, NPR, 4 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Greek oligárchēs, from olig- olig- + -archēs -arch entry 1, after Greek oligarcheîsthai "to be ruled by an oligarchy," oligarchía oligarchy

First Known Use

circa 1610, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for oligarch

• disembark
• matriarch
• meadowlark
• patriarch
• watermark
• arc
• ark
• bark
• barque
• dark
• hark
• lark