million

[mil-yuhn]

noun

plural

millions ,

plural

million .

1. a cardinal number, a thousand times one thousand.

2. a symbol for this number, as 1,000,000 or M̅.

3. millions, a number between 1,000,000 and 999,999,999, as in referring to an amount of money.

   His fortune was in the millions of dollars.

4. the amount of a thousand thousand units of money, as dollars, pounds, or euros.

   The three Dutch paintings fetched a million.

5. a very great number of times.

   Thanks a million.

6. the million(s), the mass of the common people; the multitude.

   poetry for the millions.

adjective

1. amounting to one million in number.

2. amounting to a very great number.

   a million things to do.

million

/ ˈmɪljən /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of 1000 multiplied by 1000 See also number

2. a numeral, 1 000 000, 10 ⁶ , M, etc, representing this number

3. informal,  (often plural) an extremely large but unspecified number, quantity, or amount

   I have millions of things to do

determiner

1. 1. amounting to a million

      a million light years away

   2. ( as pronoun )

      I can see a million under the microscope

2. informal,  done for; sunk

Other Word Forms

• multimillion noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of million¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English milioun, from Middle French, from Old Italian millione ( Italian milione ), equivalent to mille “thousand” (from Latin mīlle ) + -one, augmentative suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of million¹

C17: via Old French from early Italian millione, from mille thousand, from Latin

Idioms and Phrases

see feel like oneself (a million dollars); look like a million dollars; one in a million.

Example Sentences

She was one of millions of Russians facing new restrictions imposed in mid-August by Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, on calls made through the two platforms - the country's most popular apps.

From BBC

If Anthropic were charged a maximum penalty for each of the millions of works it used to train its AI, the bill could have been more than $1 trillion, some calculations suggest.

From Los Angeles Times

This week, the Athletic reported allegations that Aspiration agreed to pay Leonard $28 million for a job with no responsibilities, in an effort to circumvent the NBA salary cap.

From Los Angeles Times

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan's civil war and forced some 13 million to flee their homes.

From BBC

But less than a year after this filing, the company returned to court last month to declare bankruptcy once again, citing the loss of nearly $257 million between March and June.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bank 
• lot 
• much 
• sum 
• thousand 
• ton 
• total 
• trillion