oligopoly

1 of 2

noun (1)

ol·​i·​gop·​o·​ly ˌä-lə-ˈgä-pə-lē 

ˌō-

: a market situation in which each of a few producers affects but does not control the market

oligopolist

ˌä-lə-ˈgä-pə-list 

ˌō-

noun

oligopolistic

ˌä-lə-ˌgä-pə-ˈli-stik 

ˌō-

adjective

oligopolist

2 of 2

noun (2)

ol·​i·​gop·​o·​list ˌäləˈgäpələ̇st 

plural -s

: a member of an oligopolistic industry or market

Examples of oligopoly in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The biggest hurdle for this nascent market is that compute is an oligopoly and the oligopolists are doing just fine. —Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 26 May 2026

If Google ended up dominating consumer A.I. and Anthropic ended up dominating business A.I., the industry would resemble other digital markets that have tipped into monopolies or oligopolies, like search and social media. —John Cassidy, New Yorker, 4 May 2026

Cardinal Health operates in an industry that is effectively an oligopoly dominated by three players — the other two are McKesson and Cencora . —Jeff Marks, CNBC, 27 Feb. 2026

By traditional metrics of these things, monopoly, oligopoly, there’s definitely a very high bar. —Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 21 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

olig- + -poly (as in monopoly)

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1895, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for oligopoly

• trichinopoly
• antimonopoly
• monopoly

Legal Definition

oligopoly

noun

ol·​i·​gop·​o·​ly ˌä-li-ˈgä-pə-lē, ˌō- 

plural oligopolies

: a condition in which a few sellers dominate a particular market to the detriment of competition by others