moola

noun

moo·​la ˈmü-(ˌ)lä How to pronounce moola (audio)
-lə
variants or moolah
slang
: money
Last year was boom time for U.S. corporate law firms that reeled in the moola from a spate of takeovers …Fortune
… half-a-million dollars in campaign moolaCarl Hiaasen
"My flowered shirt looked cool in the store," Emily says. "But I only have one item to wear with it, and it was a waste of moolah."Zillions
We're talking $1.8 billion of dividends a year, so that's major moolah.Allan Sloan
Planning vacations? Sending kids to camp? Going into rehab? It's that time of the year, and no matter what you do, it's going to cost moolah.Mel Neuhaus

Examples of moola in a Sentence

we dropped some serious moola on that home theater system
Recent Examples on the Web The Emeril Lagasse Foundation Innovation Kitchen (the celebrity chef/restaurateur’s foundation donated a pot-full of moola). Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun Sentinel, 23 Jan. 2023 Not entirely surprising, as online vintage shopping is a haven for people who have worked in editorial but don’t quite have the moola to spend on the products featured in their magazines. Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 20 Oct. 2021 Behind the film lie the Panama Papers—the millions of files, leaked in 2016, that demonstrated how the wealthy stash their moola offshore and thereby avoid the plebeian vulgarity of tax. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2019 The moola-saving-palooza started on July 15 at midnight PT and will end on July 16 at 11:59 PT. Molly Longman, refinery29.com, 15 July 2019 The result is a lot of human misery and lost moola. Philip Chard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 13 July 2018 Thankfully, there are tax-free holidays happening across the country this month, meaning there's a lot of moola to be saved on all of those back-to-school necessities, like school supplies and clothes. Madison Alcedo, Country Living, 11 Aug. 2017 Everyone agrees the bundles of moola are a lure for criminals, but merchants who can’t access traditional banking have no other way to settle up. Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Jan. 2018 Lots of hoopla, but, sadly, precious little moola in the offing. Logan Jenkins, sandiegouniontribune.com, 6 July 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'moola.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

origin unknown

First Known Use

1936, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of moola was in 1936

Dictionary Entries Near moola

Cite this Entry

“Moola.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moola. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

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