Oiligarch

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of the ruling class that obtains their power from control of the oil industry. derogatory, informal

    "In later life, he developed a passion for playing polo and growing wine – his polo team, Labégorce, is named after the vineyard that he owned near Bordeaux. Today, his descendants form one of the most influential ‘oiligarch’ dynasties. Their company, Perenco, is a low-profile yet mammoth player in the oil industry, extracting more than 250,000 barrels a day across the globe."

Example

More examples

"In later life, he developed a passion for playing polo and growing wine – his polo team, Labégorce, is named after the vineyard that he owned near Bordeaux. Today, his descendants form one of the most influential ‘oiligarch’ dynasties. Their company, Perenco, is a low-profile yet mammoth player in the oil industry, extracting more than 250,000 barrels a day across the globe."

Etymology

Blend of oil + oligarch.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.