Webster's English Dictionary

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monopoly

mo.nop.o.ly \m*-'na:p-(*-)le-\ n [L monopolium, fr. Gk monopo-lion, fr. 
   mon- + po-lei]n to sell 1: exclusive ownership through legal privilege, 
   command of supply, or conce rted action 2: exclusive possession  3: a 
   commodity controlled by one party  4: a person or group having a monopoly : 
   MONOPOLY implies exclusive control of a public service or of exclusive 
   power to buy or sell a commodity in a specified market; CORNER implies a 
   temporary complete control of something sold on an exchange so that buyers 
   are compelled to pay the price asked; POOL applies to a joint undertaking 
   by competing companies to regulate output and manipulate prices; SYNDICATE 
   may apply to a group of financiers organized in order to profit by a 
   monopoly but more often in order to carry out a temporary enterprise (as 
   marketing a bond issue or purchasing a large property); TRUST applies to a 
   merger of corporations by which control is given to trustees and the 
   individual owners are compensated by shares of stock; CARTEL commonly 
   implies an international combination of firms for controlling production 
   and sale of their products SYN syn CORNER, POOL, SYNDICATE, TRUST, CARTEL