noun

• 1A ruler in an oligarchy.

  ‘The sense of individual identity of the oligarch is entirely located in the social structure of the oligarchy itself.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘These cities were ruled by oligarchs who enjoyed the backing of the Roman authorities.’
  • ‘Kings and oligarchs are playing their last card: we can prevent their game.’
  • ‘In the Cuban view, freedom is the participation in power by the people rather than people trying to carve out limits on the exercise of power by oligarchs.’
  • ‘With this sense of national pride in place, the oligarchs were ready to administer sweeping reforms, the first of which ended the status of the samurai.’
  • ‘First of all, we have been supporting despots, dictators, and oligarchs in all those states for a variety of purposes.’
  • ‘When Cosimo took control of Florence in 1537, the old oligarchs tried to regain their political power by influencing the seventeen-year-old ruler.’
  • ‘In 1660 the regency was vested in the oligarchs, and they faced the problem of maintaining Sweden's status without the profits of war.’

• 2(especially in Russia) a very rich business leader with a great deal of political influence.

  ‘We are starting to win back our country from the media, the oligarchs, the corrupt politicians.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The dictatorship of transnational corporations, ruled by financial oligarchs, must be ended.’
  • ‘By making their fortunes on the backs of common Russians, the oligarchs themselves are a pretty unsympathetic lot.’
  • ‘The article praises Vladimir Putin for fighting with oligarchs.’
  • ‘Putin has the opportunity to put an end to a number of Russian oligarchs, or at least to radically diminish their pernicious political role.’
  • ‘He predicts more such actions aimed at oligarchs who control strategic natural resources.’
  • ‘Nor will they benefit by being ruled by oligarchs from the western Ukraine rather than from the eastern Ukraine.’
  • ‘What many Russian oligarchs could only dream about over the last years has now become a reality.’
  • ‘The oligarchs are greatly resented by large numbers of Russians who did not benefit from the privatisation of state property.’
  • ‘It was about who rules Russia, the oligarchs or the Kremlin.’
  • ‘At the heart of the technocratic agenda was trade liberalization, which threatened the protectionist policies that had coddled the native oligarchs.’
  • ‘Flanked by a coterie of burly henchmen, the Russian oligarch promptly takes to one of the pitches intent on some shooting practice.’
  • ‘The oligarchs, those Kremlin-connected magnates who once dazzled the world with their riches, are reeling.’
  • ‘Western officials and banks worked with (and continue to work with) the new Russian oligarchs and their political allies.’
  • ‘Some have lost their status as a result of the August 1998 financial crisis but all of the original seven oligarchs are included here.’
  • ‘Rather, he manoeuvred and tried to reconcile his loyalty towards Putin with his support for the oligarchs.’
  • ‘The wealth of the Russian state was transferred not to the people but to a few oligarchs.’
  • ‘While oligarchs grow rich and a significant number of Russians are impoverished, a multipart economy has developed.’
  • ‘The Kremlin also gave indications that it would take action against other oligarchs.’
  • ‘Until late 1999, moreover, almost none of the oligarchs had done much to restructure or improve the assets they had acquired from the state.’