monopoly
Pluralmonopolies
- 1A market situation in which a single company or group is the only provider of a product or service, giving it strong control over prices and supply.
The company built a near-total monopoly over regional internet service before regulators stepped in.
Several local monopolies kept prices high until new competitors finally entered the market.
Oppositecompetition
Note
The word carries its definition inside it: Greek monopōlion, "a right of exclusive sale," from mónos "sole" and pōléō "I sell." A monopoly is often given rather than won. Rider Haggard's She has a "Government monopoly" on leaves and roots. It takes over or to: a monopoly over lawsuits, a monopoly to run a ferry service. Its opposites are monopsony and polypoly, the second trading mono- for poly-.
- 2Exclusive control over the trade or production of a commodity or service, held through sole possession of it.
By controlling every spice route, the merchants maintained a monopoly on the trade for decades.
Their monopoly over the region's copper rested entirely on possessing the only smelter.
Note
Here the control rests on owning the thing itself, not on any grant: a land monopoly, the monopoly of eggs in all of China. Vladimir Lenin (1917) uses it of monopolistic possession of raw materials, which swelled the power of big capital. Ownership is what separates it from the granted privilege, where the right comes first and possession follows.
- 3A legal right or privilege that grants one party the exclusive authority to control the trade or production of something.
The crown sold lucrative monopolies on salt and tobacco to favored merchants.
Investors lobbied hard for a royal monopoly that would shut out all rivals.
Similarconcession, franchise
Note
Nearest of all to the Greek "right of exclusive sale" behind the market-dominance meaning. Because it is a thing conferred, it is countable and takes the verbs of giving: a state grants monopolies in concession as an alternative to taxation, and a crown might bestow one as an outrageous gift. Reach for this sense when the right on paper, not the market power, is the point.
- 4The person, company, or group that holds exclusive control over a particular market.
As the sole monopoly in regional telecom, the firm dictated terms to every customer.
Antitrust regulators moved to dismantle the monopoly that dominated online search.
Similarmonopolist
Note
A metonymic shift that names the holder after the power it holds: the monopoly dictated terms, and regulators moved to break it up. The same word can name the situation, the market or the firm. When only the holder is meant, monopolist is the safer choice, because it cannot be misread as the controlled market.
- 5A market that is wholly controlled by a single dominant supplier.
Deregulation gradually opened the monopoly to dozens of new entrants.
Once protected, the monopoly was thrown open to international competition.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of monopoly apart? Answer 2 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Latin monopōlium, from Ancient Greek monopṓlion ("a right of exclusive sale"), built from mónos ("sole") and pōléō ("I sell, barter").