When I was helping Dave study for his Economics final yesterday, I was reading some of his past test questions and quizzing him. A word kept creeping in that I hadn’t heard before. I didn’t know the definition of the word, and I kept pronouncing it wrong.

After butchering it a few times I finally asked Dave what it meant. And I immediately decided that it needed to be the word of the day.

The word, Oligopoly.

From Dictionary.com:

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) – Cite This Source – Share This

ol·i·gop·o·ly Audio Help /ˌɒlɪˈgɒpəli/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[ol-i-gop–uh-lee] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

the market condition that exists when there are few sellers, as a result of which they can greatly influence price and other market factors. Compare duopoly, monopoly (def. 1).

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[Origin: 1890–95; oligo- + (mono)poly]

—Related forms

ol·i·gop·o·lis·tic Audio Help /ˌɒlɪˌgɒpəˈlɪstɪk/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[ol-i-gop-uh–lis-tik] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Wikipedia gives a more thorough explanation of what oligopoly is. Click HERE if you feel like getting educated.

When explaining it to me Dave used the example of “cereal” as a oligopoly. There are few sellers (Post, Kellogg’s, General Mills) that make similar products – none of which have a monopoly on cereal. He said that CD’s are an example of a monopoly (E.g. You can only get your favorite Britney Spears soundtrack from one recording studio). That seemed to help me understand it a bit more.

So… now that you all know what Oligopoly means, the goal is to try to use it in a sentence at least once this week. If you do, come back and let me know how you used it. C’mon, this could be fun! I bet you’ll get a few people looking at you funny.