oligopoly
noun
ol·i·gop·o·ly
ˌä-lə-ˈgä-pə-lē 
ˌō-
: a market situation in which each of a few producers affects but does not control the market
Examples of oligopoly in a Sentence
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If Google ended up dominating consumer A.I. and Anthropic ended up dominating business A.I., the industry would resemble other digital markets that have tipped into monopolies or oligopolies, like search and social media.
—
John Cassidy, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
But the threat to oligopoly networks like Visa and Mastercard extends beyond micro-payments: agentic AI using stablecoins could put immense fee pressure on transactions of any size.
—Nina Bambysheva, Forbes.com, 25 Mar. 2026
Cardinal Health operates in an industry that is effectively an oligopoly dominated by three players — the other two are McKesson and Cencora .
—Jeff Marks, CNBC, 27 Feb. 2026
By traditional metrics of these things, monopoly, oligopoly, there’s definitely a very high bar.
—Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 21 Feb. 2026
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John Cassidy, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
But the threat to oligopoly networks like Visa and Mastercard extends beyond micro-payments: agentic AI using stablecoins could put immense fee pressure on transactions of any size.
—Nina Bambysheva, Forbes.com, 25 Mar. 2026
Cardinal Health operates in an industry that is effectively an oligopoly dominated by three players — the other two are McKesson and Cencora .
—Jeff Marks, CNBC, 27 Feb. 2026
By traditional metrics of these things, monopoly, oligopoly, there’s definitely a very high bar.
—Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 21 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for oligopoly
Cite this Entry
“Oligopoly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oligopoly. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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oligopoly
noun
ol·i·gop·o·ly
ˌä-li-ˈgä-pə-lē, ˌō-
plural oligopolies
: a condition in which a few sellers dominate a particular market to the detriment of competition by others
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