monopsony
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of monopsony
First recorded in 1930–35; mon- + Greek opsōnía “shopping, purchase of provisions”
Explanation
In economics, a monopsony is where there are many sellers and one buyer. It’s the opposite of a monopoly, which is where there are many buyers and one seller. In fact, a monopsony is sometimes called “a buyer’s monopoly.” The term monopsony was first used in print by economist Joan Robinson in 1933, from a combination of the Greek roots mónos, "single," and opsōnía, "purchase." A monopsony is not a healthy market because it often means a single employer (buyer) has a lot of available workers (sellers). An example of a monopsony is a mining town with only one employer, a coal company that has the power to pay workers low wages because there's no competition.
Vocabulary lists containing monopsony
Economics
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Microeconomics
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Fast Food Nation
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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.
See Examples For:
These are the patriotic innovators who would break the bounds imposed on the defense industry by the monopsony at the Pentagon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
A monopsony is a market situation in which there is only one buyer in a market.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2023
But what is new is a monopsony case focused on the highest-paid sellers, such as Stephen King.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2022
Drawing on multiple studies, Posner reports that “many labor markets are highly concentrated, and . . . labor monopsony, as theory would predict, pushes wages below the competitive rate.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2021
Labor market monopsony is the idea that when there isn’t enough competition among businesses, it is bad news for workers.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2016
But monopsonies were widely thought to be exceptionally unusual – only found in markets for very specialised labour, such as professional athletes or college professors.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 13, 2018
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
