Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Exclusive control by one group of the means of producing or selling a commodity or service.
- noun A company, group, or individual having exclusive control over a commercial activity.
- noun A commodity or service so controlled.
- noun Exclusive possession or control.
- noun Something that is exclusively possessed or controlled.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An exclusive privilege to carry on a traffic.
- noun Specifically, in Eng. constitutional hist., and hence sometimes in American law, such an exclusive privilege when granted by the crown or state to an individual, association, or corporation, for the sake of the pecuniary advantage of its exclusiveness.
- noun In political economics, and as used in a general sense in law, such an exclusive privilege to carry on a traffic, or deal in or control a given class of articles, as will enable the holder to raise prices materially above what they would be if the traffic or dealing were free to citizens generally.
- noun That which is the subject of a monopoly: as, in Bengal opium is a monopoly.
- noun The possession or assumption of anything to the exclusion of other possessors: thus, a man is popularly said to have a monopoly of any business of which he has acquired complete control.
- noun Loosely, a company or corporation which enjoys a monopoly.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The exclusive power, or privilege of selling a commodity; the exclusive power, right, or privilege of dealing in some article, or of trading in some market; sole command of the traffic in anything, however obtained
- noun Exclusive possession.
- noun colloq. The commodity or other material thing to which the monopoly relates.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (
company ,cartel etc.) exclusivelyprovides a particularproduct orservice , dominating thatmarket and generally exerting powerful control over it. - noun An exclusive control over the trade or production of a commodity or service through exclusive
possession . - noun The
privilege granting the exclusive right to exert such control - noun The
market thus controlled - noun The
holder (person, company or other) of suchmarket domination in one of the the above manners.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (economics) a market in which there are many buyers but only one seller
- noun a board game in which players try to gain a monopoly on real estate as pieces advance around the board according to the throw of a die
- noun exclusive control or possession of something
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word monopoly.
Examples
-
Any assignment which does not convey to the assignee the entire and unqualified monopoly which the patentee holds in the territory specified, or an undivided interest in the entire _monopoly, _ is a mere license.
Practical Pointers for Patentees Franklin Cresee
-
There are two evils of our present railway system, however, which are not chargeable to monopoly, but to the _attempt to defeat monopoly_, and which are important to our discussion.
Monopolies and the People Charles Whiting Baker
-
When consumers hear the term monopoly, the first thing that comes to mind is often price-fixing and other illegal business practices.
The Next 7 American Monopolies 24/7 Wall St. 2010
-
When consumers hear the term monopoly, the first thing that comes to mind is often price-fixing and other illegal business practices.
The Next 7 American Monopolies 24/7 Wall St. 2010
-
I know that, but the term monopoly is used much more loosely outside of economic textbooks.
The Volokh Conspiracy » The Further Left You Are the Less You Know About Economics: 2010
-
In The Economic Way of Thinking, for example, the ambiguity associated with the term monopoly is explored --- if you define the relevant market broadly enough no monopoly is evident, but if your definition is narrow then every good will exhibit monopolistic characteristics.
Responding to Claims of Market Failure - The Austrian Economists 2006
-
In The Economic Way of Thinking, for example, the ambiguity associated with the term monopoly is explored --- if you define the relevant market broadly enough no monopoly is evident, but if your definition is narrow then every good will exhibit monopolistic characteristics.
-
Profile of SAIC -- former internet domain monopoly is the invisible spook WalMart
-
Nasionale Pers chief executive Hennie van Deventer said the term monopoly had always been loosely used.
-
It is to be noted that in this seventh law we have used in apposition with the term monopoly, the term "inequality of competition" instead of
Monopolies and the People Charles Whiting Baker
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.