Meaning of oligarch in English

oligarch

/ˈɑː.lɪ.ɡɑːrk/ uk

/ˈɒl.ɪ.ɡɑː.k/

someone who is extremely rich and powerful, especially a person from Russia who became rich after the end of the former Soviet Union:

The Russian oligarchs spent money on London real estate.

The soccer team was bought by a Russian oligarch in 2003.

politics specialized

one of the people in an oligarchy (= a government or society controlled by a small group of very powerful people):

The government of the Corinthian State was an oligarchy, and the oligarchs had control over the State.

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A few powerful oligarchs were able to seize huge industrial assets at knockdown prices.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, several national and regional networks arose that were owned by oligarchs.
The fear was that the general population of nations might become too intelligent to put up with being treated as virtual cattle under the reign of oligarchs.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Rich people

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Powerful people & dictators

(Definition of oligarch from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

oligarch | Business English

oligarch

noun [ C ]

/ˈɒlɪɡɑːk/ us

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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.

(Definition of oligarch from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of oligarch

oligarch

Far more critical will be the growth of their own oligarch-controlled news media.

From OCRegister

But what can be done at the other end of the income distribution; the rise of the oligarchs?

From CNN

But increasingly these industries are being subsumed by the oligarchs.

From OCRegister

Neither propriety, nor idealism, nor barrel-sized ink purchases protect us from disgruntled oligarchs.

From WIRED

It is in the weeks and months after a regime falls that status quo oligarchs and elites re-exert their formidable power.

From Huffington Post

As the oligarchs argue over the budget, federal workers "under their rule" face a possible furlough.

From Huffington Post

The new owners, sensing an end to the oligarch-priced condo market, plan to once again offer the 37-story building as offices.

From New York Post

Political parties are the personal playthings of powerful oligarchs.

From Foreign Policy

But the corrupt, bickering oligarchs of the world government inevitably come into conflict with a large underclass seeking freedom.

From Los Angeles Times

The excesses of the oligarchs will eventually bring their ruin.

From The Atlantic

Other oligarchs play prominent roles in the lucrative mining industry.

From Foreign Policy

Admiration for oligarchs easily turns into envy and anger.

From Foreign Policy

One breaks "oligarchs" -- that is, business giants -- via jail or exile, the other imprisons more journalists than any other politician on the planet.

From The Hill

His trousers are the white of an oligarch's yacht.

From USA TODAY

Fight against corruption and set the oligarchs to power.

From Voice of America

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

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