oligopoly

Derived, by analogy with monopoly, from Ancient Greek ὀλίγοι (olígoi, “few”) + πωλέω (pōléō, “to sell”). From oligo- +‎ -poly.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɒlɪˈɡɒpəli/

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ɑlɪˈɡɑpəli/

oligopoly (plural oligopolies)

1. An economic condition in which a small number of sellers exert control over the market of a commodity.
   • 1866, Frederic Seebohm, “More drawn into Court. His Introduction to the "Utopia" (1516).”, in George Henry Lewes, editor, The Fortnightly Review‎, volume 6, London: Chapman and Hall, translation of original by Thomas More, The Oxford Reformers of 1498., page 489:

     For tho sheep are falling into few and powerful hands; and these, if they have not a monopoly, have at least an oligopoly, and can keep up the price.

   • 1895, Ralph Robynson, “The Fyrste Boke”, in Joseph Hirst Lupton, editor, The Utopia of Sir Thomas More: In Latin from the Edition of March 1518, and in English from the 1st Ed. of Ralph Robynson's Translation in 1551‎, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of original by Thomas More, Preliminary Matter from Robynson's Translation, page 55:

     [footnote 2] We have ' monopoly,' but not ' oligopoly ' (the sale by a few), and so cannot preserve the point of the sentence.

   • 1907, G. Macloskie, “General Literature”, in The Princeton Theological Review‎, volume 5, Princeton: Princeton University Press, Recent Literature, page 352:

     The specialist offices have it all to themselves; not a 'monopoly', but an 'oligopoly', if we may coin the term.

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion‎:

     But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries.  By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.  This only magnified the indispensable nature of the oligopolists.

• oligopolist, oligopolistic, oligopolistically, oligopolize

• monopoly
• duopoly
• oligarchy (not to be confused, although oligarchs can also be oligopolists, as for example in petrostates)

• duopoly
• monopoly
• oligopsony