oligarch

oligarchy ol‧i‧gar‧chy [ˈɒlgɑːki ǁ ˈɑːlgɑːrki, ˈoʊ-] noun oligarchies _PLURALFORM

1. [uncountable] when a country is ruled or controlled by a small group of people, usually from the same social class:

• Oligarchy took over from democracy.

2. [countable] a country, organization, industry etc controlled by a small group of people, or the group who control it:

• The industry is dominated by an oligarchy of three oil companies.

— oligarch noun [countable] :

• the changing alliances of Russia's corporate oligarchs

— oligarchic also oligarchical adjective :

• the dominance of a small oligarchical group of businessmen

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oligarch UK US /ˈɒlɪgɑːk/ noun [C]

► GOVERNMENT, ECONOMICS one of a small group of powerful people who control a country or an industry: »

He tells the story of the new Russian oligarchs and how they amassed enormous fortunes when the Soviet Union broke up.