noun A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (company, cartel etc.) exclusively provides a particular product or service, dominating that market and generally exerting powerful control over it.
noun An exclusive control over the trade or production of a commodity or service through exclusive possession.
A land monopoly renders its holder(s) nearly almighty in an agricultural society.
noun The privilege granting the exclusive right to exert such control.
Granting monopolies in concession constitutes a market-conform alternative to taxation for the state, while the crown sometimes bestowed a monopoly as an outrageous gift.
noun The market thus controlled.
noun The holder (person, company or other) of such market domination in one of the above manners.