cartel

plural cartels

1. economicsA group of businesses or nations that collude to limit competition within an industry or market.

   oil cartel

   2 more examples

   drug cartel

   Over the past decade, the very nature of organized crime has changed, with many groups diversifying their income beyond drug trafficking, and large cartels splintering into smaller, oftentimes more nimble groups.

   2023 January 10, Whitney Eulich, America Armenta, “Mexico arrests son of ‘El Chapo’: Why don’t citizens feel safer?”, in The Christian Science Monitor

2. historicalgovernmentA combination of political groups (notably parties) for common action.
3. historicalA written letter of defiance or challenge.

   He is cowed at the very idea of a cartel.

   1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   Xerxes whipped the Sea, and writ a cartell of defiance to the hill Athos.

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

4. historicallawAn official agreement concerning the exchange of prisoners.

   He then sent down a flag of truce in military style, proposing a cartel or exchange of prisoners – the corporal for the notary.

   1832, Tales of the Alhambra, Washington Irving

5. historicalnauticalA ship used to negotiate with an enemy in time of war, and to exchange prisoners.