million

noun

mil·​lion ˈmi(l)-yən 

plural millions or million

1

: a number equal to 1,000 times 1,000 see Table of Numbers

2

: a very large number

millions of cars on the road

3

: the mass of common people

—used with the

million adjective

millionfold

ˈmi(l)-yən-ˌfōld 

adverb or adjective

millionth

ˈmi(l)-yən(t)th 

adjective or noun

Synonyms

• commoners
• commons
• crowd
• herd
• hoi polloi
• mass
• mob
• multitude
• people
• plebeians
• plebs
• populace
• public
• rank and file

Examples of million in a Sentence

intellectuals sneered that television was a medium clearly aimed at the millions

Recent Examples on the Web

Change Healthcare is integral to the healthcare infrastructure, processing millions of payments annually, which means the breach affected not only UnitedHealth but also countless hospitals, clinics, and medical practices reliant on this platform. —Lars Daniel, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024

Advertisement Why do millions of voters — many of them, as Trump might put it, very fine people — blow past the warnings of figures like Kelly, Milley and Bolton? —Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 2024

The day before Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, Rupar posted numerous clips of Harris and former first lady Michelle Obama speaking in Michigan that garnered millions of views, according to X. —Brian Stelter, CNN, 28 Oct. 2024

Top among the Google Cloud upgrades at Citi is a high-performance-computing (HPC) capability that will run millions of risk calculations a day for Citi’s Markets business. —Michael Del Castillo, Fortune, 28 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English milioun, from Middle French milion, from Old Italian milione, augmentative of mille thousand, from Latin

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing million

• look/feel like a million dollars/bucks
• never/not in a thousand/million/billion years
• one in a million
• thanks a bunch/lot/million
• thanks a million

Kids Definition

million

noun

mil·​lion ˈmil-yən 

plural millions or million

1

: a number equal to 1,000 times 1,000 see number

2

: a very great number

millions of mosquitoes

million adjective

millionth

-yən(t)th 

adjective or noun