monopoly

Wikipedia

See also Monopoly

English

Etymology

From Latin monopōlium, from Ancient Greek μονοπώλιον (monopōlion, “a right of exclusive sale”), from μόνος (monos, “sole”) + πωλέω (pōleō, “I barter, sell”).

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: mənŏ'pəlē", IPA: /məˈnɒpəˌli/, SAMPA: /m@"nQp@%li/
• (US) enPR: mənä'pəlē", IPA: /məˈnɑpəˌli/, SAMPA: /m@"nAp@%li/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

monopoly (plural monopolies)

1. 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.
2. 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

3. 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

4. (metonymy) The market thus controlled
5. (metonymy) The holder (person, company or other) of such market domination in one of the the above manners.

Synonyms

• (holder): monopolist

Antonyms

• monopsony

Derived terms

• monopolistic
• monopolistically
• monopolize, monopolization, monopolizer

Related terms

• duopoly
• oligopoly

Translations

situation of exclusive supply

Armenian: մենաշնորհ (hy) (menašnorh) Catalan: monopoli (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 獨占 (zh), 独占 (zh) (dúzhàn) Danish: monopol (da) n. Dutch: monopolie (nl) n. Finnish: monopoli (fi) French: monopole (fr) m.

German: Monopol (de) n. Greek: μονοπώλιο (el) (monopólio) n. Japanese: 独占 (ja) (どくせん, dokusen), 独り占め (ja) (ひとりじめ, hitorijime) Khmer: ឯកវិក្កយភាព (km) (aek vi kai yeak pheap) Polish: monopol (pl) m. Romanian: monopol (ro) n. Russian: монополия (ru) (monopólija) f.

exclusive possession

Armenian: մենաշնորհ (hy) (menašnorh) Catalan: monopoli (ca) m. Czech: monopol (cs) m. Danish: monopol (da) n. Dutch: monopolie (nl) n., alleenbezit n.

Finnish: monopoli (fi) Greek: μονοπώλιο (el) (monopólio) n. Russian: монополия (ru) (monopólija) f. Scottish Gaelic: aon-mhargadh (gd) m.

privilege granting such control

Catalan: monopoli (ca) m. Czech: monopolní (cs) postavení (cs) f. Danish: monopol (da) n.

Dutch: monopolie (nl) n., alleenrecht n. Scottish Gaelic: aon-mhargadh (gd) m.

market thus controled

Catalan: monopoli (ca) m. Danish: monopol (da) n. Dutch: monopolie (nl) n.

Finnish: monopoli (fi) Greek: μονοπώλιο (el) (monopólio) n. Russian: монополия (ru) (monopólija) f.

holder of such control

Czech: monopol (cs) m. Danish: monopolist (da) c.

Dutch: monopolist (nl) m. Scottish Gaelic: lèir-shealbhachd (gd) f.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Bulgarian: монопол (bg) Mandarin: 獨佔, 独占 (dúzhàn) Esperanto: monopolo (eo) French: monopole (fr) m. German: Monopol (de) n. Ancient Greek: μονοπώλιον (monopolion) n. Hebrew: מונופול (monopol) m.

Indonesian: monopoli (id) Italian: monopoli (it), monopolio (it) m. Japanese: 独占 (どくせん, dokusen), 専売 (せんばい, senbai) Korean: 전매권 (jeonmaegweon) Latin: monopolium (la) n. Norwegian: monopol (no) Portuguese: monopólio (pt) m. Romanian: monopol (ro) n. Spanish: monopolio (es) m.

External links

• monopoly in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• monopoly in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911