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captive market

British

noun

a group of consumers who are obliged through lack of choice to buy a particular product, thus giving the supplier a monopoly

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They have a captive market and they don't want to share it.

From BBC • May 5, 2022

But its status as the country’s largest residential mortgage servicer gives it ample opportunity to exploit this captive market.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2021

It almost feels too on-the-nose that his racket takes place in the ultimate captive market – medicine.

From The Guardian • Sep. 5, 2019

But the ultimate captive market is the U.S. criminal justice system, where consumers are captive in both an economic and a physical sense.

From Slate • Jul. 19, 2018

Some of his businesses found a particularly captive market in his flock, selling to his followers.

From New York Times • Jul. 26, 2014

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023