noun
cartel
kar-TEL/kɑːrˈtel/
An organization of producers or dealers controlling a market.
The rival producers form a cartel to control supply and prices.
Etymology
The diminutive of carta named a placard or written notice. Through the senses of a written challenge and then a written agreement, cartel came to name an association of businesses controlling trade by agreement.
In context
forming a cartel think of cartels as a specific type of oligopoly where entities which normally compete with one another reach agreements with respect to fixing prices setting mutually acceptable production targets
More examples
- Investigators uncover payments linked to a drug cartel.
- The cartel agrees to restrict production.
- Independent dealers struggle against the powerful cartel.
Forms
cartel · cartels
Similar words
- monopoly
- A market controlled by one provider rather than a cooperating group.
- syndicate
- An organized association that need not control a market.