monopoly
A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (company, cartel etc.) exclusively provides a particular product or service, dominating that market and generally exerting powerful control over it.
Other meanings
An exclusive control over the trade or production of a commodity or service through exclusive possession.
“A land monopoly renders its holder(s) nearly almighty in an agricultural society.”
The privilege granting the exclusive right to exert such control.
“Granting monopolies in concession constitutes a market-conform alternative to taxation for the state, while the crown sometimes bestowed a monopoly as an outrageous gift.”
Related words
- monopolize
- monopolization
- monopolizer
Example sentences
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “monopoly” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.