Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

monopolize

 verb
     
mo‧nop‧o‧lize also monopolise British English [transitive]
1 to have complete control over something so that other people cannot share it or take part in it:
The company has monopolized the soft drinks market.
He monopolized the conversation all evening.
2 to use a lot of someone's time or attention:
Virtually all her time and energy is now monopolized by the children.
—monopolist noun [countable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary