monopolize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to acquire, have, or exercise a monopoly of.
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to obtain exclusive possession of; keep entirely to oneself.
Children monopolize one's time.
verb
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to have, control, or make use of fully, excluding others
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to obtain, maintain, or exploit a monopoly of (a market, commodity, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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monopolizationnoun
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monopolizernoun
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overmonopolizeverb (used with object)
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premonopolizeverb (used with object)
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antimonopolizationadjective
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unmonopolizedadjective
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unmonopolizingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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monopolizesimple
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monopolizessimple
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have monopolizedperfect
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has monopolizedperfect
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am monopolizingprogressive
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are monopolizingprogressive
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is monopolizingprogressive
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have been monopolizingperfect progressive
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has been monopolizingperfect progressive
Past
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monopolizedsimple
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had monopolizedperfect
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was monopolizingprogressive
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were monopolizingprogressive
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had been monopolizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of monopolize
First recorded in 1605–15; monopol(y) + -ize
Explanation
If you monopolize something, you won't let anyone else get their hands on it. When you were little, your mom might have said, "Don't monopolize the swing. Let your sister have a turn." When a company monopolizes something, it has an unfair amount of control over a particular product or service, hurting other companies and giving consumers fewer choices. A business might monopolize the media in an entire state, for example, by owning the local newspapers, TV stations, and news websites. Monopolize comes from monopoly, which isn't just a great board game, but actually means "exclusive control of a commodity or trade."
Vocabulary lists containing monopolize
30 GRE Words Beginning with "K" "L""M" and "N" and "O"
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Nine Stories
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"Declaration of Sentiments" by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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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:
Future hikes are anticipated, and with Xbox moving out of the picture, their efforts to monopolize the market seem likely to be rewarded and they’ll simply weather the complaints.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
Federal Trade Commission is launching an antitrust probe into the company over whether it will try to monopolize the CPU market after launching its own chip.
From MarketWatch ● May 18, 2026
Financiers and corporate leaders didn’t monopolize the benefits of big innovations; instead, a sense of social uplift for everyone helped ease misgivings about progress’s rapid pace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Understanding just how China came to monopolize the rare-earth industry can help investors anticipate what’s coming next, making it easier to invest in the critical—and exceedingly volatile—sector.
From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025
The ingredients for the visibilizer had to be delivered, and the sooner the better, but the baroness clearly intended to monopolize the rest of her morning.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
Department of Justice in an epic antitrust case, alleging that Google monopolizes online advertising technology.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2023
On platforms such as Zoom, the screen monopolizes our interactions.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 27, 2022
The disharmony in the Schisa household is comically banal — an all-but-unseen sister monopolizes the bathroom; an aristocratic landlady bangs on the ceiling with a broom — until Saverio’s infidelity cranks it up to melodrama.
From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2021
Unfortunately, it's hard to pursue that inquiry when the wider war monopolizes our attention.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 28, 2018
The Duke has led the agent upstairs, drawn aside the curtain from the portrait of his last Duchess, and monopolizes the conversation.
From Browning and the Dramatic Monologue by Curry, S. S. (Samuel Silas)
For example, Leo points out that the private companies who’ve monopolized control over and knowledge of A.I. are given to “technocratic thinking” that “tends to amplify the power of those who already possess economic resources.”
From Slate ● May 28, 2026
Brinkema ruled earlier this year that Google had illegally monopolized the online-auction technology that decides which ads appear on websites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
But the task of depicting a future Los Angeles hasn’t been monopolized by fiction writers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
He’d owned the USFL’s New Jersey Generals and led the upstart league to sue the NFL in the mid-1980s, alleging its established rivals had monopolized professional football.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 31, 2023
Previous Maya states had been run by all-powerful monarchs who embodied the religion and monopolized trade.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Though the businessman and Mormon missionary never mined for gold himself, he became California’s first millionaire by monopolizing the sale of supplies to those who did.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
At issue was the definition of the market that Meta was allegedly monopolizing.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
Once guidelines changed to make it easier to detect monopolizing behavior, the FTC initiated a series of lawsuits to go after that behavior.
From Slate ● Feb. 10, 2025
Pro sports lost me when big money teams began monopolizing, causing my beloved Pirates to fall by the wayside.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2024
Then some 600 million years ago, the monopolizing grip of the algae was broken and an enormous proliferation of new lifeforms emerged, an event called the Cambrian explosion.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
