student asking question

Doesn't "anti-" refer to "opposed to something"? How come "anti + trust" refers to "anti + monopoly"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

You are absolutely correct that the word "anti" is usually used to express opposition or being against something. "Antitrust", however, refers to laws that were made to promote and protect competition in certain markets or areas of commerce. They are basically the laws of business competition. They are called "antitrust" laws because originally they were created to oppose the 'Trusts' of the nineteenth century. These 'Trusts' controlled or threatened to control the entire national markets in America for different areas of commerce and so the "antitrust" laws were established to ensure that these 'Trusts' did not permanently undermine competition.

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