oligopoly

1. (economics) An economic condition in which a small number of sellers exert control over the market of a commodity.Examples: "Because of the ease of collusion, particularly price fixing, duopolies and oligopolies easily produce outcomes as bad for the general public as outright monopolies."; "For the 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."; "[Thomas] More makes an antithesis between monopolium and oligopolium. We have ‘monopoly,’ but not ‘oligopoly’ (the sale by a few), and so cannot preserve the point of the sentence."countableuncountable