oligopoly.

A market in which a small number of major sellers account for most supply.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• market oligopoly
• oligopoly pricing

On the page

The oligopoly made each firm’s pricing decisions consequential for its rivals.

The report distinguished oligopoly from monopoly because several large suppliers remained active.

Usage notes

Primary category: economics / business / social science. Forms: Singular oligopoly; plural oligopolies. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: financial analysis, risk evaluation, comparison, explanation. Disciplines: economics, finance, business. Commonness: uncommon.