cartel

[kahr-tel]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cartel ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an international syndicate, combine, or trust formed especially to regulate prices and output in some field of business.

a coalition of political or special-interest groups having a common cause, as to encourage the passage of a certain law.

a written agreement between belligerents, especially for the exchange of prisoners.

a written challenge to a duel.

Origin of cartel

1550–60; < Middle French < Italian cartello letter of defiance, poster, equivalent to cart(a) carte + -ello diminutive suffix

Related formscar·tel·ism, noun

Synonyms for cartel

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cartel ON THESAURUS.COM

1. monopoly, merger, combination.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cartel

monopoly, corporation, conglomerate, gang, syndicate, mob, ring, consortium, crowd, chain, outfit, crew, combine, trust, pool, bunch, multinational

Examples from the Web for cartel

Contemporary Examples of cartel

How do you feel about Archer and the gang abandoning the cartel and returning to the office?
‘Archer’ Creator Adam Reed Spills Season 6 Secrets, From Surreal Plotlines to Life Post-ISIS
Marlow Stern
January 8, 2015
In the meantime, there is talk that with El Chapo in prison the Sinaloa cartel has a new leader.
Could El Chapo Go Free?
Michael Daly
November 19, 2014
The notorious Sinaloa cartel boss is trying to use Mexican law to get himself out of jail—and it just might work.
Could El Chapo Go Free?
Michael Daly
November 19, 2014
And he was not the only Sinaloa cartel informant to suffer an abrupt reversal of fortune with ICE.
U.S. Visas Helped Fuel the Juárez Drug Wars
Jason McGahan
July 1, 2014
I mean, it just happened to be that the Juárez cartel was—that was the case we were working on at the time.
U.S. Visas Helped Fuel the Juárez Drug Wars
Jason McGahan
July 1, 2014

Historical Examples of cartel

Sir Lucius was not out of sight when the Duke had finished reading his cartel.
The Young Duke
Benjamin Disraeli
We have been engaged a long time in negotiating a cartel of exchange.
The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. I
Various
When this cartel fell into my hands it lacked but an hour of sunset.
Captain Canot
Brantz Mayer
The Escribano was demanded in exchange, according to the cartel.
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7
Charles H. Sylvester
A brig was chartered as a cartel, on board of which the Frenchmen were at once sent.
From Powder Monkey to Admiral
W.H.G. Kingston

British Dictionary definitions for cartel

cartel

noun

Also called: trust a collusive international association of independent enterprises formed to monopolize production and distribution of a product or service, control prices, etc

politics an alliance of parties or interests to further common aims

Word Origin for cartel

C20: from German Kartell, from French, from Italian cartello a written challenge, public notice, diminutive of carta card 1

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

Word Origin and History for cartel

1550s, "a written challenge," from Middle French cartel (16c.), from Italian cartello "placard," diminutive of carta "card" (see card (n.1)). It came to mean "written agreement between challengers" (1690s) and then "a written agreement between challengers" (1889). Sense of "a commercial trust, an association of industrialists" comes 1902, via German Kartell, which is from French. The older U.S. term for that is trust (n.). The usual German name for them was Interessengemeinschaft, abbreviated IG.

cartel in Culture

cartel

[(kahr-tel)]

An association in which producers of a similar or identical product try to obtain a monopoly over the sale of the product.

Note

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a cartel.