Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A market condition in which sellers are so few that the actions of any one of them will materially affect price and have a measurable impact on competitors.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An economic condition in which a small number of sellers exert control over the market of a commodity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (economics) a market in which control over the supply of a commodity is in the hands of a small number of producers and each one can influence prices and affect competitors

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[oligo– + (mono)poly.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Derived, by analogy with monopoly, from the Greek ὀλίγοι (oligoi, "few") + πωλειν (polein, "to sell"). From oligo- + -poly

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Examples

Comments

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  • More sociable than monopoly. There really should be polypoly!

    November 10, 2007

  • Not to be confused with rolypoly.

    October 20, 2008