noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/məˈnɒpsəni/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/məˈnɑpsəni/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A market situation in which there is only one buyer for a product.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: economics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: monopoly
2
noun
Meaning 2
A buyer with disproportionate power.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: economics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: monopsonist
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
(economics) a market in which goods or services are offered by several sellers but there is only one buyer
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: market, marketplace, market place
History
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos, “alone, solitary; singular, unique”) + ὀψωνέω (opsōnéō, “to buy fish or victuals in general”) + -y, modelled after monopoly. ὀψωνέω is from ὄψον (ópson, “delicacies”) + ὠνέομαι (ōnéomai, “to buy, purchase”). The English word was coined by British classics scholar Bertrand Hallward (1901–2003), and popularized by British economist Joan Robinson (1903–1983) in her book The Economics of Imperfect Competition (1933): see the quotation.
Across languages
Translations
45 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Armenian:
մոնոպսոնիա
(monopsonia)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Azerbaijani:
monopsoniya
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Basque:
monopsonio
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Bulgarian:
монопсон
(monopson)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Catalan:
monopsoni
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Chinese Mandarin:
買方壟斷 /买方垄断
(mǎifānglǒngduàn)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Chinese Mandarin:
獨買 /独买
(dúmǎi)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Chinese Mandarin:
買方獨佔 /买方独占
(mǎifāngdúzhàn)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Czech:
monopson
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Danish:
monopsoni
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Dutch:
monopsonie
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Esperanto:
monopsonio
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Finnish:
monopsoni
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
French:
monopsone
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Galician:
monopsonio
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Georgian:
მონოპსონია
(monoṗsonia)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
German:
Monopson
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Greek:
μονοψώνιο
(monopsónio)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Hebrew:
מונופסון
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Hungarian:
monopszónia
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Icelandic:
einkeypi
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Indonesian:
monopsoni
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Italian:
monopsonio
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Japanese:
需要独占
(juyō dokusen)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Kazakh:
монопсония
(monopsoniä)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Khmer:
ឯកកយភាព
(aek kak yeak pheap)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Kyrgyz:
монопсония
(monopsoniya)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Latin:
monopsonium
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Latvian:
monopsons
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Lithuanian:
monopsonija
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Luxembourgish:
Monopson
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Norwegian:
monopsoni
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Persian:
انحصار خرید
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Polish:
monopson
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Portuguese:
monopsônio
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Portuguese:
monopsónio
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Romanian:
monopson
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Russian:
монопсо́ния
(monopsónija)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Serbo-Croatian:
мо̏нопсон
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Serbo-Croatian:
mȍnopson
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Spanish:
monopsonio
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Swedish:
monopsoni
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Turkish:
monopson
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Ukrainian:
монопсонія
(monopsonija)
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
Uzbek:
monopsoniya
— market situation in which there is only buyer for a product
