- 1monopoly (in/of/on something) (business) the complete control of trade in particular goods or the supply of a particular service; a type of goods or a service that is controlled in this way In the past central government had a monopoly on television broadcasting. Electricity, gas and water were considered to be natural monopolies. compare duopoly Wordfindertradeboom, business, commerce, embargo, import, market, monopoly, sanction, tariff, trade Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivepublic, state, state-controlled, … See full entry See related entries: Board games, Economy
- 2[usually singular] monopoly in/of/on something the complete control, possession or use of something; a thing that belongs only to one person or group and that other people cannot share Managers do not have a monopoly on stress. A good education should not be the monopoly of the rich.
- 3Monopoly™ a board game in which players have to pretend to buy and sell land and houses, using pieces of paper that look like money Culture Monopoly is one of the most popular and successful board games ever produced.The game was invented by Charles Darrow in the US in 1933 and the original version used the names of streets in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The British version uses London streets, and there are other versions of the game in other countries.The expression Monopoly money is sometimes used to refer in a humorous way to a sum of money that is considered much too high Word Originmid 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek monopōlion, from monos ‘single’ + pōlein ‘sell’.Extra examples One company holds a monopoly of the raw materials. The company has a virtual monopoly in world markets. The company lost its monopoly on exporting beer to India. The company used its monopoly control to charge exorbitant fees. The company was able to exploit its monopoly position. They created a monopoly in the export of wool. They will fight to maintain their monopoly over local bus services. This Act of Parliament guaranteed solicitors a monopoly on particular legal services. Water is a natural monopoly. attempts to break the company’s monopoly of the sugar industry companies who are challenging the state monopolies maintaining their monopoly over local bus services the giant gas monopoly Gazprom the privatization of state-owned monopolies such as the gas and electricity industries
monopoly
nounBrE BrE//məˈnɒpəli//; NAmE NAmE//məˈnɑːpəli//
(pl. monopolies) Board games, EconomyCheck pronunciation: monopoly
