1. exclusive control by one group of the means of producing or selling a commodity or service: "monopoly frequently ... arises from government support or from collusive agreements among individuals” ( milton Friedman).
2. law A right granted by a government giving exclusive control over a specified commercial activity to a single party.
3. A company or group having exclusive control over a commercial activity.
4. A commodity or service so controlled.
5. exclusive possession or control: arrogantly claims to have a monopoly on the truth.
6. something that is exclusively possessed or controlled: showed that scientific achievement is not a male monopoly.

1. A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (company, cartel etc.) exclusively provides a particular product or service, dominating that market and generally exerting powerful control over it.
2. an exclusive control over the trade or production of a commodity or service through exclusive possession.
3. the privilege granting the exclusive right to exert such control
4. the market thus controlled
5. the holder (person, company or other) of such market domination in one of the the above manners.

1. 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
2. exclusive possession.
3. the commodity or other material thing to which the monopoly relates.

1. an exclusive privilege to carry on a traffic.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. that which is the subject of a monopoly: as, in bengal opium is a monopoly.
5. 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.
6. loosely, a company or corporation which enjoys a monopoly.

1. (economics) a market in which there are many buyers but only one seller
2. 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
3. exclusive control or possession of something