monopoly en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- mənŏp'əlē (Received-Pronunciation)
- mənä'pəlē (Atlantic-Canada, General-American)
- [məˈnɔ̟pəli] (New-Zealand)
- (California, Southern) audio
- /məˈnɒpəli/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /mono.poli/ (South-Asia)
- /mɵˈnɔpɵli/ (South-Asia)
- mənŏp'əlē (Canada, dialectal) of the US
- /məˈnɑpəli/ (Atlantic-Canada, General-American)
- /məˈnɔpəli/ (Australia)
- /məˈnɒpəli/ (New-Zealand)
- /məˈnɒpəli/ (Canada, dialectal) of the US
Etymology
From Latin monopōlium, from Ancient Greek μονοπώλιον (monopṓlion, “a right of exclusive sale”), from μόνος (mónos, “sole”) + πωλέω (pōléō, “to barter, sell”). By surface analysis, mono- + -poly.
Meanings
-
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.
In 1918 a Chinese company was given a monopoly to run a service between Victoria and the districts of Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po. Five years later this monopoly was transferred to the Hong Kong and Yaumati Ferry Company, together with the right to run a service to Yau Ma Tei.
1962, G. B. Endacott, A. Hinton, “Public Works and Transport”, in Fragrant Harbour: A Short History of Hong Kong, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, published 1977, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 122:It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.
2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2014:Ciudadanos is keen on fighting monopolies and on vigorous Scandinavian-style labour reforms to help the unemployed retrain and find jobs.
2018 February 10, “Spain’s centrist Ciudadanos are on the march”, in The Economist, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 May 2018:The sale of the leaves and roots was a Government monopoly, and from it the Kings of Kôr derived a large proportion of their private revenue.
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:On building companies, [Sam] Altman frequently channeled [Peter] Thiel’s “monopoly” strategy, the belief that all founders should “aim for monopoly” to create a successful business.
2025, Karen Hao, Empire of AI, New York City: Penguin Press, →ISBN:Exactly! You can’t reduce the competition when nobody is competing! You could not be describing a monopoly more clearly if you were wearing a metal top hat while driving a metal car after winning second prize in a beauty contest!
2014 June 1, “Net Neutrality”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 5, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
-
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.
Монополисти́ческое облада́ние важне́йшими исто́чниками сыры́х материа́лов стра́шно увели́чило власть кру́пного капита́ла и обостри́ло противоре́чие ме́жду картелли́рованной и некартелли́рованной промы́шленностью.
1917 [1916], Владимир Ленин [Vladimir Lenin], Империализм, как высшая стадия капитализма (В. И. Ленин: Полное собрание сочинений; 27), published 1969, page 421; English translation from Yuri Sdobnikov, transl., Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (V. I. Lenin: Collected Works; 22), translation of original in Russian, 1964, page 299:My great grandfather had the monopoly of eggs in all of China and my grandmother was super rich living in a mansion when the cultural revolution happened and communism took everything away.
2020 January 31, Kay Tye, Twitter (tweet), archived from the original on 01 Feb 2020, deleted:
-
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.
- (metonymically) The market thus controlled.
- (metonymically) The holder (person, company or other) of such market domination in one of the above manners.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| monopolies | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Coordinates
quadropoly · quintopoly · oligopoly · duopoly · triopoly
Deriveds
monopolistically · monopolization · antimonopoly · pigopoly · monopolizer · monopolylike · natural monopoly · monopolize · premonopoly · semimonopoly · promonopoly · monopolistic
Synonyms
Translations (144)
mk монопол (situation of exclusive supply) · sa एकाधिकार (situation of exclusive supply) · gl monopolio (situation of exclusive supply) · mi mana tokitoki (situation of exclusive supply) · gl monopolio (privilege granting such control) · sl monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · nl alleenrecht (privilege granting such control) · lt monopolija (situation of exclusive supply) · ka მონოპოლია (situation of exclusive supply) · fi monopoli (situation of exclusive supply) · az inhisar (situation of exclusive supply) · hy մենաշնորհ (exclusive possession) · nl monopolie (situation of exclusive supply) · ru монопо́лия (market thus controlled) · es monopolista (holder of such control) · tg монополия (situation of exclusive supply) · ru монополи́ст (holder of such control) · nl monopolie (exclusive possession) · ru монополи́стка (holder of such control) · bn একাধিপত্য (situation of exclusive supply) · uz monopoliya (situation of exclusive supply) · ar اِحْتِكَار (situation of exclusive supply) · fa-ira اِنْحِصار (situation of exclusive supply) · zh 專賣 /专卖 (privilege granting such control) · el μονοπώλιο (exclusive possession) · da monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · es monopolio (exclusive possession) · da monopol (exclusive possession) · hy մենաշնորհ (situation of exclusive supply) · cs monopol (exclusive possession) · ca monopoli (situation of exclusive supply) · yue 專賣 /专卖 (situation of exclusive supply) · id monopoli (privilege granting such control) · hi एकाधिकार (situation of exclusive supply) · cmn 壟斷 /垄断 (exclusive possession) · it monopolio (situation of exclusive supply) · es monopolio (situation of exclusive supply) · ca monopoli (market thus controlled) · tr tekel (situation of exclusive supply) · pt monopólio (situation of exclusive supply) · gl monopolio (exclusive possession) · ca monopoli (privilege granting such control) · ar اِنْحِصَار (situation of exclusive supply) · nb monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · bg монопо́л (exclusive possession) · da monopol (privilege granting such control) · da monopolist (holder of such control) · mn ᠨᠣᠶᠠᠷᠬᠠᠯ (situation of exclusive supply) · ru монопо́лия (exclusive possession) · cmn 獨占 /獨占 /独占 (exclusive possession) · da monopol (market thus controlled) · kk монополия (situation of exclusive supply) · tr monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · mi mana tokitoki (exclusive possession) · pt monopólio (privilege granting such control) · io monopolo (situation of exclusive supply) · fi monopoli (exclusive possession) · pl jednokupstwo (situation of exclusive supply) · ja 独占 (situation of exclusive supply) · bg монопо́л (situation of exclusive supply) · sk monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · el μονοπώλιο (market thus controlled) · gd aon-mhargadh (exclusive possession) · uk монопо́лія (situation of exclusive supply) · ca monopoli (exclusive possession) · prs اِنْحِصَار (situation of exclusive supply) · mn ноёрхол (situation of exclusive supply) · mi mana tōtahi (situation of exclusive supply) · mn ᠮᠣᠨᠣᠫᠣᠯᠢ (situation of exclusive supply) · km ឯកាធិភាព (situation of exclusive supply) · tl sarilakal (situation of exclusive supply) · tg инҳисор (situation of exclusive supply) · sv monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · ja 専売 (situation of exclusive supply) · gl monopolio (market thus controlled) · ko 전매 (situation of exclusive supply) · mn монополь (situation of exclusive supply) · grc μονοπώλιον (exclusive possession) · hi एकाधिपत्य (situation of exclusive supply) · id monopoli (exclusive possession) · zh 專賣 /专卖 (situation of exclusive supply) · nl monopolie (market thus controlled) · tl saritangi (exclusive possession) · gl monopolista (holder of such control) · pl monopol (market thus controlled) · km ឯកាធិកម្ម (situation of exclusive supply) · pt monopólio (exclusive possession) · pl monopolista (holder of such control) · id monopoli (situation of exclusive supply) · sv monopol (privilege granting such control) · el μονοπώλιο (situation of exclusive supply) · ro monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · ru монопо́лия (situation of exclusive supply) · sh mȍnopol (situation of exclusive supply) · pl monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · bn একাধিকার (situation of exclusive supply) · de Monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · tl sarilakal (exclusive possession) · ja 独り占め (situation of exclusive supply) · id monopoli (market thus controlled) · yo anikanjọpọn (situation of exclusive supply) · cs monopolní postavení (privilege granting such control) · he מוֹנוֹפּוֹל (situation of exclusive supply) · nl monopolie (privilege granting such control) · tl saritangi (situation of exclusive supply) · tl monopolyo (situation of exclusive supply) · ko 독점 (situation of exclusive supply) · es monopolio (privilege granting such control) · sq monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · bg монопо́л (privilege granting such control) · gd aon-mhargadh (privilege granting such control) · be манапо́лія (situation of exclusive supply) · gd lèir-shealbhachd (holder of such control) · ur اِجارَہ داری (situation of exclusive supply) · grc μονοπώλιον (holder of such control) · pl monopol (privilege granting such control) · lv monopols (situation of exclusive supply) · tk monopoliýa (situation of exclusive supply) · pl monopolistka (holder of such control) · lo ການຜູກຂາດ (situation of exclusive supply) · nl alleenbezit (exclusive possession) · th การผูกขาด (situation of exclusive supply) · hu monopólium (situation of exclusive supply) · pl samokupstwo (situation of exclusive supply) · nl monopolist (holder of such control) · az monopoliya (situation of exclusive supply) · cs monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · et monopol (situation of exclusive supply) · grc μονοπώλιον (privilege granting such control) · vi sự độc quyền (situation of exclusive supply) · ps انحصار (situation of exclusive supply) · gu ઇજારો (situation of exclusive supply) · bg монопо́л (market thus controlled) · pt monopólio (market thus controlled) · ug مونوپول (situation of exclusive supply) · ky монополия (situation of exclusive supply) · eo monopolo (situation of exclusive supply) · sh мо̏нопол (situation of exclusive supply) · pl monopol (exclusive possession) · cs monopol (holder of such control) · fi monopoli (market thus controlled) · ms monopoli (situation of exclusive supply) · fr monopole (situation of exclusive supply) · bg монополи́ст (holder of such control)