Duopoly
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An economic condition in which two sellers exert most control over the market of a commodity. countable, uncountable
"Modern examples of duopoly include the American markets for credit cards (Visa and MasterCard), smartphones (Apple and Google), soft drinks (Coca-Cola and Pepsi), and airplanes (Airbus and Boeing)."
- 2 The domination of a field of endeavour by two entities or people. broadly, countable, uncountable
"In 2011, his spirit and body were shattered by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals. Last night, the stakes were just as high – even though the tournament is not out of the first week – because there is a creeping perception that the [Roger] Federer–[Rafael] Nadal duopoly is slowly giving way under pressure from below."
- 3 A situation in which two or more radio or television stations in the same city or community share common ownership. broadly, countable, uncountable
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Modern examples of duopoly include the American markets for credit cards (Visa and MasterCard), smartphones (Apple and Google), soft drinks (Coca-Cola and Pepsi), and airplanes (Airbus and Boeing)."
Etymology
PIE word *dwóh₁ From duo- (prefix meaning ‘two’) + -poly (suffix meaning ‘pertaining to the number of sellers in a market’), by analogy with monopoly.
Related phrases
More for "duopoly"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.