Meaning & use
monopolise
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Meanings
verbtransitivebusiness
To gain or hold complete control of a market, product or service so that no competitor can share it.
Grammar: Takes an object: a firm monopolises a market, never 'monopolises on' it.
Patterns
- monopolise something
- monopolise the market for something
For decades one company monopolised the supply of railway steel in the region.
The two airlines tried to monopolise the busiest routes before regulators stepped in.
No single seller should be allowed to monopolise the water supply of a town.
verbtransitivefigurativedisapproving
To take up so much of something, such as talk, time or attention, that other people hardly get a turn.
Grammar: Takes an object: she monopolised the discussion.
Patterns
- monopolise something
- monopolise someone's time
Dan monopolised the conversation all evening, and nobody else could say a word.
Please don't monopolise the printer; there are six of us waiting.
Toddlers can monopolise a parent's attention without even trying.
Word forms
| third person singular | monopolises |
|---|---|
| past tense | monopolised |
| past participle | monopolised |
| -ing form | monopolising |
Common combinations
- monopolise the market
- The start-up hoped to monopolise the market for electric ferries.
- monopolise the conversation
- He tends to monopolise the conversation at family dinners.
- monopolise resources
- Large farms monopolise resources such as irrigation water.
- try to monopolise
- Don't try to monopolise the coach's time before the match.
- effectively monopolise
- The chain has effectively monopolised grocery shopping in the village.
Synonyms and how they differ
- corner
- Corner a market is more specific, meaning to buy up so much of a good that you control its price, whereas monopolise also covers services and non-commercial things.
- dominate
- Dominate means to have the strongest influence without necessarily excluding everyone else, while monopolise suggests nobody else gets a share.
- hog
- Hog is an informal word used for selfishly keeping something such as a seat or the remote, and it sounds much less formal than monopolise.
- take over
- Take over describes seizing control of something, but it does not carry the idea of shutting others out of a shared supply or turn.
Opposites
Word family
- monopoly noun
- complete control of a market or supply by one seller
- monopolisation noun
- the act of gaining or keeping such control
- monopolist noun
- a person or firm that holds a monopoly
- monopolistic adjective
- relating to or behaving like a monopoly
Commonly confused: monopolise or monotonise?
monopolise vs monotonise
This is not a standard word; learners sometimes blend monopolise with monotonous. Monopolise is about control, not boredom.
Practice
The regulator warned that the company must not ___ the local broadband market.
Choose one answer.
Monopolise takes a direct object and means to take full control of a market. Dominate over is wrong because dominate is transitive and takes no 'over' here; the other two do not fit the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “monopolise”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.