billion
noun
Did you know?
How much is a billion? It might depend on whom you ask. Billion was borrowed from French in the late 1600s to indicate the number one million raised to the power of two, or a million million—a number represented by a 1 followed by 12 zeros. However, the French later changed their naming conventions so that a billion became a thousand million (a 1 followed by 9 zeros) and a trillion became a thousand thousand million (or a million million, the old billion). The French have since returned to the older system, but it was this new system that was adopted by American English speakers in the 1800s. In Britain, the newer system has seen increasing use since the 1950s, but the older sense is still sometimes used there as well.
Examples of billion in a Sentence
Britney Porter, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025
The high court on Wednesday rejected President Trump’s request to keep billions in foreign aid approved by Congress frozen.
—Alexandra Banner, CNN, 6 Mar. 2025
The president could, in theory, cancel the contract with Boeing and commit to modifying another aircraft but that will also take time and potentially cost billions more in public funding to accomplish.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 6 Mar. 2025
Reanalysis involves taking billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world to accurately estimate in near real-time global weather and climate conditions.
—Andrew Freedman, Axios, 6 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for billion
Cite this Entry
“Billion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billion. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
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