From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstrangleholdstran‧gle‧hold /ˈstræŋɡəlhəʊld $ -hoʊld/ noun [countable] 1 CONTROL[usually singular] complete control over a situation, organization etcstranglehold on Just a few firms have a stranglehold on the market for this software.break/loosen the stranglehold of somebody (=stop someone having complete control)2 BREATHEa strong hold around someone’s neck that stops them from breathing
Examples from the Corpus
stranglehold• The balance of payments has become a stranglehold.• That marks a victory for Microsoft and breaks a stranglehold that Netscape was putting on the telecommunications industry.• For years, two giant recording companies have had a stranglehold on the CD market.• All is slanted to maintaining the Establishment stranglehold on vast tracts of land for their own selfish playgrounds.• He is down, but his stranglehold on the retail jewellery scene means that no one should say he is out.• Satellite TV should at last break the stranglehold of the big national TV channels.• Farmers with reasonable sized holdings were in a matter of years freed from the stranglehold of money lenders.• Even now, Marie could sense that the stranglehold of her rage had been broken.stranglehold on• a four-decade stranglehold on powerFrom Longman Business Dictionarystrangleholdstran‧gle‧hold /ˈstræŋgəlˌhəʊld-ˌhoʊld/ noun [countable usually singular] disapproving complete control over a particular market, industry, or situationstranglehold on/overThe new legislation willbreak their stranglehold on the industry, and allow competition on a more even footing. → compare monopoly 